Fall from Grace
by tgwWhale
Summary: You all know the plot by now: Ichigo gets her heart broken by Aoyama, needs comforting, finds Kisshu. A lot of other cool and nasty stuff happens as well. Kisshu x Ichigo.
1. Grace

_This story is set within the year after the Mew Mews defeated Deep Blue and the aliens left. Since the anime established Ichigo's age as 13, she and Lettuce and Mint are 14 years old at the time of this story. Zakuro is about 5 years older, and Pudding is about 5 years younger. The "a la Mode" story has not occurred, and so Mew Berry does not exist in the universe of this story._

_The story begins rather slowly. I'm sorry if you get bored with it before it gets interesting._

**The Tokyo Mew Mews  
in  
Fall from Grace**

. . . . .  


**Chapter 1**

**Grace**

Midorikawa Lettuce looked around for a second for help, but no help was coming. She was in the library again, she had an armful of books again, and she had stumbled and dropped them again. And she was alone, again. Being alone was like being clumsy; it was part of being Lettuce. She really would have liked it if one of the boys there in the library would have helped her pick everything up – that was what boys were supposed to do, after all, when a girl needed help. But no one ever seemed to help Lettuce. Maybe she wasn't a girl, in their minds. She wasn't one of the guys, either, of course. She was just Lettuce.

She managed to get all of the books back into her arms after dropping two of them a second time, and stood up. She needed a table to spread them all out, but all of the tables in sight were occupied. She headed farther toward the back of the library, nearly dropping the books again once. There was a table at the very back, behind the stacks to the right. She could use that table, she thought.

But when she got there, it was not empty. A tall, dark-haired young man sat there alone with his own stack of books. His brow was furrowed as he read; clearly something deeply concerned him. And Lettuce knew him: Aoyama Masaya, the boyfriend of her friend Ichigo; a magical character, to be sure, whose alter-ego was the Blue Knight. And something was troubling him.

And Lettuce was Lettuce, kind and concerned to a fault. And so she quietly walked over and placed her stack of books on that same table, across from him. He looked up, his dark eyes taking in the one who stood there.

"Ah. Midorikawa-san!" he said in a low voice. "Yes, have a seat here, please! There's room for both of us." Actually, there wasn't, with all of the books the both of them had. But Masaya took his own large stack of books and placed them on the floor, making room for Lettuce's. She managed to place hers on the table, spilling only one to the floor. And before she could begin to bend down and pick it up, the boy had left his chair and scooped it up for her, placing it carefully on top of the stack.

Lettuce sat in her chair and looked at him. He smiled, placing her at ease, and for some reason she did not feel an attack of her usual shyness. And so she said softly and with more than a little trepidation, "Aoyama-san, I couldn't help but notice something has you worried."

Lettuce knew that she had crossed far over a line into his private affairs when she asked that; but she was Lettuce, always ready to help.

He looked into the huge blue eyes that stared softly at him from behind the big round glasses. He could read the real concern there, and so he said, "I just wish it was all so easy as it seemed to be when I was younger."

"Easy?" the girl asked. "What was easy?"

"Everything," the boy responded. "Everything. Like this book, here. You know I've always wanted to protect the environment. I've dedicated my life to that, you know. But it seemed so easy. There were bad guys who polluted, and good guys who stopped the pollution, and I was going to be one of the good guys. So easy! But it isn't that simple. Protecting the environment has a lot of economic costs. If you protect too much, you hurt the economy. That means you hurt real people. And really, as it says here, environmental protection is really a conceit of a rich economy. If you hurt the economy, you make it harder to protect the environment."

"How so?" Lettuce asked, quite enthralled with his little dissertation.

He shrugged, and said, "To give a simple example, you don't have much interest in protecting an endangered species – like, say, the finless porpoise – when your kids are starving, and you can feed them porpoise."

The finless porpoise, of course, was the endangered animal whose DNA gave Lettuce her magical powers. Yet she understood, totally, for she loved children. So she said, "I think I'm starting to understand, now. We want to leave our kids with an unpolluted world, but to do that, we'd destroy the economy and leave them in poverty. But if we let the economy run wild, we'd destroy the environment and leave our kids a polluted mess."

Aoyama nodded, and said, "So you see, it's not easy. You have to have a strong economy, and you have to have a clean environment, and you want to leave both to your kids, but the two seem to work against each other. And so it's not easy."

Lettuce nodded. Masaya was so deep, so intelligent, so wise for someone so young. It was so interesting to talk to him! For a second she felt a twinge of jealousy toward Ichigo, who had this man as her boyfriend. And when she felt this, her eyes fell, and the boy said softly, "Oh, I'm boring you with all this heavy stuff. I'm sorry, I'll let you alone."

Lettuce shook her head vigorously. "No! Not at all! It's just – it's just that I'm not used to this kind of talk, so deep and all." She smiled, and went on, "It isn't normal for a guy your age to be thinking about the world we'll be leaving for our kids."

"Yes, it's rather odd," Aoyama said, smiling in return. "Not too many guys our age think much of having kids. I think girls do, more." He was quiet for a second, and then changed the subject. "And you, Midorikawa-san – what are you working on, with all of those thick old books?"

"Literature assignment," the green-haired girl replied. "The legend of Tokoyo. I have to write a report, and my opinions about the story. It's due next Monday."

"Yes, the legend of Tokoyo," the boy replied. "You know, it's interesting. We Japanese, we can be so odd in the stories we love. Our history has made women subservient; if you dream of a career beyond nursing, Midorikawa-san, it's because we've picked up those values from the Westerners. But our stories are filled with girl heroes. Rather like, I would say, the Mew Mews. Only you girls aren't a fairy tale or a legend, are you?" He smiled shyly.

"You know, that's just the way I'll theme the report," Lettuce said. "About how while Japanese history suppressed women, Japanese myth and legend made them heroes." She smiled broadly. "Aoyama-kun, you help me so much!"

He smiled in return, and their conversation went on, turning from one academic subject to the other, even touching on that most dreaded subject of them all, algebra. Lettuce was fascinated to find a boy who cared about the things she cared about, and though she really needed to get working on her report, she kept allowing herself to indulge in just another few minutes of conversation, and the boy seemed most happy to oblige her. In fact, she thought that they must have wasted nearly half an hour, and it must have been close to supper time, when they were interrupted.

It was the librarian, who told them they had to leave. It was closing time! Lettuce blushed – it could not be that late, could it? She checked her cell phone for the time – 9:00 PM! And she blurted out, "Oh, Aoyama-kun, I'm so sorry! I wasted your whole evening! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

But the boy just smiled and shook his head. "Midorikawa-san, this was one of the best-spent evenings in my life. I haven't enjoyed a conversation this much in ages. Really! So no more apologies to me. Though you might want to call your parents on that cell phone and tell them why you're so late. I think an apology might be needed there."

Lettuce blushed deeply and thanked him profusely as she punched up her parents' number. It was not like her to be late, ever; and she was sure they would be worried. She made the call, and the apologies; and Aoyama waited for her, to help her carry that huge pile of books that she had not used. He was such a gentleman, she thought. That Ichigo was so lucky to have him!**  
**

* * *

_Author's note: The legend of Tokoyo is a Japanese folk-tale. In it the emperor goes rather bonkers and banishes a famous warrior to the distant Oki Islands, in the Sea of Japan off of northern Honshu. Tokoyo his daughter goes to rescue him, knowing full well that the Oki Islands are a dangerous abode of dragons. After some adventures she reaches the islands, where she finds that the locals are in the act of offering a maiden to a sea-dragon keep it at bay. She takes a dagger and plunges into the sea in place of the maiden. She is a pearl-diver so she can swim underwater a long time, and she finds the dragon, slays it, and also finds a magical statue which bears a curse that made the emperor go bonkers. So she breaks the curse and saves her father, as well as saving the maiden and the people of the Oki Islands from the dragon. The tale is very much like a "King Arthur" heroic romance - slay the dragon, save the girl and incidentally the kingdom - but the hero isn't a Knight of the Round Table, but a young woman._


	2. Fall

**Chapter 2**

**Fall**

Lettuce put down the blouse. She always wore things like that, so that even when she wasn't wearing her school uniform, she looked like she was. Simple, modest clothes, always. But it was so warm that evening, so unseasonably warm, and those long-sleeved sweaters and longish skirts were so warm. So she hung the clothes back on their hangers – Lettuce always was so careful with her clothes, and reached into the back of the closet. There was a short skirt there, a true miniskirt, in green of course; and a white top that went with it. The shorter skirt would be cooler, she thought; it also would show off her long and shapely legs, but she told herself she didn't care about that. Then the top: pure silk, with short and very loose sleeves, with a front that fell well below the level that her mother approved of. It was soft, and clingy, and when she slipped it on, it felt so wonderfully cool. It also revealed the sensuous curves of her figure, but Lettuce told herself she didn't care about that.

Then she picked up a wrapped box from the table, and left the house. She was going to the library again; her report on the legend of Tokoyo still wasn't done, and it was due Monday. She had kept running into Aoyama Masaya there, and somehow they always ended up talking too much and studying too little. She had first run into him on Monday, and now it was Friday. She had run into him every night except Wednesday, when he had some kendo match or something. Lettuce wasn't much interested in kendo, and anyway, Ichigo was going to be there, and she knew that three was a crowd.

She walked into the library with her books and her box. There were many tables open this evening, because it was a Friday and students didn't want to study, especially with it being so warm outside. But Lettuce stopped at none of the empty tables. She headed for the back, to that table in the corner behind the stacks of books. She so enjoyed talking to Masaya! Then, for a second, she stopped; in her mind's eye she saw Ichigo there with him, and three was still a crowd. But then she smiled and even chuckled a bit. No, Ichigo would not be found in a library on a Friday. She hurried on.

Then she saw him sitting there, lost once again in his books. She approached him slowly, this time. She felt vaguely nervous; maybe a bit guilty, and certainly more than a bit afraid. But she could not understand why. Their friendship had meant so much to her. Finally, she had a friend that cared about the things that she cared about.

Now she stood next to him, and she spoke, quietly: "Masaya-kun."

He slowly closed the book before he looked up. "Midorikawa-san," he said in a low voice. "We are quite informal today, are we not?"

Lettuce sat in the chair across the table from him, and again spoke in a quiet voice. "I thought we were friends," she said. She placed her books on the table, and then, halfway between them, the wrapped box.

He looked at it, then back up at her. "And what is that?"

"A little supper, for us both," she half-whispered. "I don't have to work at the café tonight, and I have a lot of work to do. It will be a long evening, and so I brought lunch. And it wouldn't be right for me to eat and not offer you something, so I brought a little extra."

Masaya did not smile, but looked at her for several long seconds. The he spoke, in a careless voice, "Thank you, Midorikawa-san."

"Lettuce," she replied.

His eyes swept over her as she stood beside the table, and he said, softly, "That's not the way I'm used to seeing you dress."

Lettuce shrugged. "It's so warm tonight, and this outfit is cool."

He looked at her with a very strange look in his eyes, and nodded. "And what schoolwork do you have tonight, that you will be working so late – on a Friday?"

"Still the legend of Tokoyo," she answered. "I haven't got as much done this week as I should have, and the report is due Monday."

"I thought that I had helped you so much," the boy said.

"Oh, you did, Masaya-kun!" Lettuce bubbled. And she smiled a shy smile.

He smiled in return; and then his face fell, and he turned back to his book.

She saw this; something was wrong. She began reaching out, to touch him; but then she jerked her hand back. He would not look up, so she said, "Masaya-kun, what's wrong? Are you angry at me? I can leave…"

He looked up again, and sighed. "Lettuce-san, don't leave. Maybe I need someone to talk to."

She looked at him intently, and in silence, for several seconds; and then she said, "If you speak, I'll listen." And she smiled softly.

"I shouldn't get you involved in it," he said. He shook his head. "I shouldn't trouble you."

Lettuce shook her head, gently. "I thought we were friends."

But he said nothing more, and looked down at his hands on the table.

And so she said, very quietly, "It's about Ichigo, isn't it?"

He stared down for several more seconds, and then said, "Why do you say that?"

Lettuce said gently, "Because while you care deeply about many things, only Ichigo owns your heart. And your heart is in pain."

"My heart is in pain? You can see that?" he asked.

Lettuce nodded. "I can see your heart so very clearly, Masaya-kun. I can see it's wounded, maybe breaking." She waited for him to speak, but he did not. And so she went on, with great fear and trepidation. "Was there a fight?"

He looked at her strangely, and Lettuce knew she had crossed a line into private affairs where she did not belong. And so she said, "I'm sorry. I was out of line…"

But Masaya began speaking, still staring at his hands. ""No, no fight," he said, so quietly that Lettuce could hardly hear him. "It's just that… something's missing."

"What do you mean?" Lettuce asked, too quickly.

Again he looked at her with that strange look in his eyes, and said after a long pause, "Ichigo. She's fun. And she's really pretty. And she's brave and strong and faithful and noble and honest and true. And her heart is solid gold, the very best. She saved the whole freaking world! And she saved my life, too." He looked up at Lettuce for a second, but did not go on.

Lettuce nodded, "But… something is missing in the relationship. Is that what disturbs you?"

He got up from the chair and turned his back to Lettuce. And then he said, "Yes. It's the intellectual thing." He turned back and looked at the green-haired girl. "Look at our friendship, Lettuce-san," he said. "We talk about everything: science and the environment, economics, politics, history, literature and music and poetry, Japanese myths and legends. I care about those kinds of things. But Ichigo? She's never heard of the legend of Tokoyo. What's worse, she wouldn't care to. She cares about whether she'll have a chocolate shake or a strawberry one, whether she'll buy the red shirt or the white one, and maybe about the latest tune from Candy-5. There are so many things important to me that she can't even imagine exist. Our hearts may meet, but never our minds. And the longer I go with her, the more painful that gets."

Lettuce spoke very slowly. "Maybe you should talk to her about it."

Masaya shook his head. "I know how it would go. She would pretend to be interested in whatever the subject was, for a while. She did that with the environmental thing, you know. But it would bore her to tears, and she wouldn't understand it. It would be painful… She's not stupid, Lettuce-san. Far from it! But she just doesn't care about… about intellectual things." He shook his head. "But I do, a lot. And sometimes that gets really painful, and then I think: she's not really the right one for me. And then I feel guilty, because she's so wonderful, and because I owe her my life. And then I get depressed, and she sees it, and I can't explain to her why."

He looked down again, and said no more. Instead, he sat again in his chair, and picked up his book again.

Lettuce didn't know what to say, so she, too, opened her book. But she only pretended to read, occasionally turning a page. Her mind was racing, racing into places she knew it should not go. After a short while she took the box and opened it. She had packed it mostly with egg rolls, because Masaya had said he had liked them. She took one and raised it to her lips, and began nibbling on it.

Then Masaya took one, almost absent-mindedly, it seemed; and she watched as he ate it. "That was good. Very good," he said in his low "library" voice. Then his face returned to his book.

She watched him, and after a while his hand reached toward the box again. She, too, reached out, as if to take an egg roll; and her hand touched his, as if by accident. But she did not pull it away. She could feel the tension in him, so intense…

Her heart was racing. Her face was hot. Her breaths were rapid and shallow. It was wrong. It was _so_ wrong. It was betrayal. It was selfish. It was dangerous!

She took off her big round glasses and set them on the table. Then she stood, and circled the table to his side. She looked at him, and he stood. Neither said a word. She touched his cheek. Her heart raced faster and faster, and she could hardly breathe.

Then her arms encircled him, and his encircled her, and their lips pressed together in an explosion of passion. Her arms embraced his long and muscular back; his hands embraced her sensuous curves. And their lips pressed together, on and on.

Lettuce had never felt anything like this. All the air was on fire around them, and all the blood was boiling in her veins. Yet it was wrong. So wrong!

But Lettuce did not care.

She kissed with ever more passion, while her blood screamed for her to give more and ever more, far more than she should dare give. It was if she was falling, falling into a deep, sweet abyss of raging fire. Ever farther she fell…

Then, suddenly, he broke off the kiss, and pushed her away. He was gasping for breath. "What have we done?" he moaned. "What have… _I_ done?" He shook his head, staring at the floor.

Lettuce looked at him with pity, scarcely able to imagine what he was going through. Her own heart was racing and her breaths were coming in short gasps. The desire that burned in her was like nothing she had ever felt. She wanted his body, so strong, so warm, pressed up against hers again. She wanted him. She wanted to kiss him, more. She wanted more. She wanted it all.

Yet he stood there, gasping as well, his face a mask of indecision and agony.

Lettuce reached up with her right hand, and again gently touched his cheek. She was gasping, too, but her voice came soft and low. "We've done nothing wrong," she said. "We only kissed…"

"If that's _only_ a kiss," he replied, "I would hate to see what it's like when you get serious about it." He looked into her huge, shining blue eyes. "Or maybe, I would love to see that. But that isn't what I meant. For you, maybe, it was only a kiss. For me…" He looked down again, and his voice choked. "Betrayal. I've betrayed her faith in me, her trust."

Lettuce touched his chin, and raised his face up so she could look into his eyes. She, too, was betraying a trust – her friendship with Ichigo. But she had made a decision even before she first touched his hand. The desire, the love she felt for Aoyama Masaya was too strong for her friendship to hold back. She would surrender that friendship for this man. And so she simply stared into his dark eyes, and whispered, "You are not married to her. You don't have to stay with her 'till death does you part.' You're a 14-year old junior-high student, not a husband. You… have to choose."

"I know," he muttered. "Do you think that I didn't feel this coming? I know you felt it, too, right from that first night, when our minds met. But how can I hurt her so?"

Lettuce's breaths still were coming in gasps, though they were coming more slowly, now. And she said, "Masaya-kun, you must choose. You must break her heart – or you must break mine."

And he just shook his head, staring at the floor. "And it will break my heart to so hurt either of you." Then he took a deep breath and looked up, now staring into her eyes. For many seconds there was absolute silence.

And then he took another deep breath, and said, "I… choose."

And he took her in his arms, and his lips embraced hers with still more warmth and passion.

Long they kissed, and then he pulled back for a second. "Lettuce, my love," he whispered, "I will not be dishonest. I will tell her – tomorrow." Lettuce tried to say something, but his kiss smothered her words.

And for Lettuce, everything sank into a red ocean of passion.


	3. What He Deserves

**Chapter 3**

**What He Deserves**

It was the next day, Saturday, just past 10 in the morning. The weather was turning, and the unseasonable warmth of the day before was giving way to breezy and cooler weather. It was still spring, after all, and far from summer.

Aoyama Masaya waited beside a bench near the statue in Kumano Park. He had called Ichigo the night before, and asked her to meet him in the park at 10. He had told her he had something important to tell her. She had seemed so excited! He shook his head. How could he tell her? He would hurt her so much, more than he could imagine. She could be so naive, so trusting. And she loved him so!

But he kept thinking: Lettuce was so much a better match for him. She, too, could be naïve, of course. But she had had her heart broken more than once, and was not so naive when it came to relationships. And she was so interesting to talk to; Masaya was growing tired of Ichigo's mindless chatter.

He looked up suddenly. Had he really thought those words? Was Ichigo's talk mindless chatter? What had gone wrong with him? She was so good-hearted, so trusting. How could he hurt her this way? But if he did not tell her the truth, then he had two choices: to hurt Lettuce, or to lie. And no matter what, he would not lie. He would wound her deeply if he told the truth. He would break her heart! And it would break his heart to do that. But no, he would not lie; he would never lie to Ichigo. He respected her more than that.

He checked his cell phone; the time was passing 10:15. Ichigo was late again. Of course, Ichigo was always late; then she would come running up, disheveled and exhausted, making endless excuses. At least Lettuce would be on time, he thought. Lettuce was indeed a much better match for him.

The wind blew through the park, jostling his hair. He turned away from it for a second, looking at the ground at his feet. For a kid who was only 14, he had had to do so many impossibly hard things. He had had to fight, at the risk of his life, time and again to protect Ichigo. He had had to sacrifice his own life to help Ichigo destroy Deep Blue. But what he had to do that morning would be far harder than anything like merely sacrificing his life. To so hurt Ichigo… The thought frightened him far more than the thought of dying.

Then he heard her voice: "Aoyama-kun!" She had never gotten used to using his given name. He turned, and she came running up, gasping for breath, her hair in a mess and blowing in the wind. Then she stood before him, resting her hands on her knees, catching her breath. "Oh, Aoyama-kun! I'm so sorry, my alarm clock didn't work this morning, I'm so sorry I'm late…"

Masaya allowed himself a tiny smile. Ichigo was always Ichigo, and that would never change. And those little quirks he would miss. But there was no time for smiles, now. He had a hard truth to tell, the hardest truth he had ever had to tell. But for now, he just greeted her: "Ichigo-san."

Then she raised her head. Her strange violet-gray eyes were shining in anticipation. "Oh, Aoyama-kun! You have something for me, right? You said it was important!"

Yes, it is important, he thought. He had spent hours trying to think of a way of saying it nicely, of letting her down slowly. But there was no way. The truth was ugly and painful, and telling that truth would be ugly and painful. But he had to say it; and so he said, "Ichigo, this is going to be hard. Please listen."

She could see something in his face, hear something in his voice. But still she could not imagine that he would hurt her. "Oh? Did something bad happen? Is there trouble? Are you hurt or sick or something?"

"Ichigo…" he began, and then he turned away. Tears were already leaking from his eyes. How could he do this to her? But he knew he must be brave. He took a deep breath, and began again.

"Ichigo…" He could not face her. He stopped speaking again, but she grabbed him from behind.

"Aoyama-kun! What happened? What's so bad?" the girl asked plaintively. She turned him back towards her.

Then he looked deeply into her eyes, and haltingly he said the words. "Ichigo, it's… it's… over. Ichigo, I'm leaving. I'm breaking up with you."

The words hit the girl like a brick between the eyes. Agony exploded in her eyes, and in a second tears began pouring out. "What? Why?" she gasped. "Why?"

He could say nothing, and she shook him. "Tell me why! After all we've been through… Why? Why? What's wrong with me? Why?" He seemed speechless, so she started screaming. "Answer me! Why? Why?"

Finally, he spoke, barely croaking the words through a tight throat. "Ichigo, it's just not working out like it should. We're not right for each other."

She stopped screaming, but her voice was still too loud. "Not right for each other? What's that supposed to mean? Look, I'll change! I'll be whatever you want! Don't leave me! Aoyama-kun…"

But the boy just shook his head. "Ichigo-san, you'll never change. You'll never be anything but Ichigo, and you wouldn't be lovable if you tried. You're always a hundred per cent real, and I couldn't bear you pretending to be something you're not. It's just… we're not really made for each other. We need to break it off, now. The longer we wait, the more it will hurt in the end."

Sudden anger surged into the girl's eyes. "There's another woman, isn't there! Who is she? Who?"

But the boy quietly shook his head. "I wouldn't tell you if there's another, or not. I know your temper, Ichigo-san. If there were another woman, and you found out who she was, you have the power… to hurt her. Strawberry surprise! No, Ichigo. I know it hurts. But you'll have to live with what I told you. We're… just not right for each other." He turned from her, and began walking away.

"Aoyama-kun!" she shouted after him. He stopped at the power of her words, but did not turn back.

"Aoyama-kun!" she screamed again. "What would you do… if I blasted you with the Strawberry Surprise? What would you say to that? Huh? What would you say to that?"

He slowly turned back to her, and spoke with a slow, infinitely sad voice. "I would say… I deserved it." Then he turned again, and walked away.

He waited as he walked. Would she lose her temper, and turn her power upon him? She had the power to kill him, easily. But no such dangerous sounds came from behind him. Instead, he heard something quieter. And he stopped, and turned. And his heart broke.

For he had seen this scene before, over and over, in nightmare after nightmare, before the final fight with Deep Blue: Ichigo fallen to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably, utterly broken. She wasn't the Mew Ichigo of his nightmare; it was plain Momomiya Ichigo, dressed in a pale sweater and gray skirt, weeping helplessly. The bravest, strongest human being he had ever known was there on her knees, crushed and broken. He wanted to run back to her, wanted to save her this pain.

But he could not. He turned away one last time and walked away, hoping that Ichigo would not do something foolish in her despair.

And Aoyama Masaya, for the first time in his life, hated himself with every fiber of his being.

* * *

Pudding looked up at the clock on the wall; it was just past noon on Sunday. Things were busy at the café, and Ichigo had not come in the night before. Lettuce and Minto were there also, but as usual Minto wasn't doing any work, just sitting and sipping tea. Zakuro had said she might come in later in the day. It was a Sunday and sometimes Zakuro did that church thing on Sundays. That made little sense to Pudding, but then none of them understood why Zakuro did what she did in the least. In the end, it simply meant that Zakuro wasn't there, and with Ichigo gone, there was too much work for just Pudding and Lettuce.

Then, Pudding saw the front door open, and Ichigo walked in. Or someone that looked like Ichigo walked in; though perhaps what walked in looked more like a zombie. Ichigo looked, as they said, like death warmed over. Her eyes were bloodshot and hollow, her shoulders were stooped, and there was no spring in her step. She did not greet the other waitresses, or smile at the customers. She just walked in silence toward the kitchen door, the one that led to the dressing room in the back. It seemed that she saw nothing at all; but when she was passing Pudding, she stopped, turned her head toward the younger girl, and said, "Come with me to the dressing room. Now." Then she went forward again. And Pudding, though she had no clue what was happening, followed her.

Keiichiro greeted them happily in the kitchen, but Ichigo marched past him as if he was not there. She said not a word until she reached the dressing room. There she held the door open for Pudding, and closed it after her.

Then she turned to the little monkey-girl, and said in a low voice, "You said you're the greatest detective in the world, right?"

Pudding smiled at that, a lot less afraid now than she had been. "Yes! Pudding is the best! No mystery is too hard for Pudding!"

Ichigo walked up to the younger girl, and half-whispered, "I have a job for you. I need a mystery solved."

Pudding beamed; she was totally flattered that Ichigo would ask her this. And so she said, "And what is the mystery you want solved?"

Ichigo took a quick look around the room, to see if anyone were spying on them; and then voice grew even lower. She whispered, "You know where Aoyama-kun lives, right?"

"Pudding doesn't know exactly, but Pudding will find out!" the monkey-girl said.

"Good!" Ichigo whispered. "I want you to go to his house and follow him when he comes out. Don't let him see you! I need to know where he's been going."

Pudding's face grew confused. "You want Pudding to spy on Aoyama-kun?" Ichigo nodded, and the younger girl's face fell. "Pudding doesn't want to spy on her friend."

"Why not?" Ichigo said, too loudly. "You've spied on us before."

Pudding shook her head. "Pudding isn't stupid! Pudding sees that Ichigo-san is heartbroken. She thinks Ichigo-san and Aoyama-kun have had a fight. Ichigo is Pudding's friend, and Aoyama is Pudding's friend, and Pudding doesn't want to be caught in the middle of the fight."

Ichigo's face grew very dark. "Pudding isn't Ichigo's friend, any more." And she turned away from the younger girl.

"Ichigo…" Pudding began; but she never finished the sentence. Instead she left the room quickly and silently.

And Ichigo stood alone. Now they were all turning against her. Maybe they were all in league with Aoyama against her! Perhaps. But how could she find out what he was up to? She was sure there was another woman. She was also sure that if she tried to follow him herself, he would catch her. He was born to defend her, and knew when she was close. She surely didn't have enough money to hire a real private detective. She sighed, and sat down, placing her keys on the seat beside her while she began removing her shoes to start changing into her waitress uniform.

And as the keys jingled, a thought struck her, and she lifted up the keys and stared at the little pink puffball attached to the ring. And for the first time all day, she smiled.

"Masha!" she said.

The little pink puffball suddenly grew and popped into the air, hovering in front of Ichigo. "Yes, Ichigo! Masha is here!" the little robot said.

"Masha, do you know where Aoyama Masaya lives?" the girl asked.

"Yes! Yes! Masha knows!" the robot answered.

Ichigo's voice fell to a whisper. "Masha, I want you to go to Aoyama's house and I want you to follow him wherever he goes. Don't you let him see you! Not at all!"

"Masha won't let him! Masha won't!" the robot said.

Then Ichigo went on. "Masha, you video and record everything he does. Especially if you see him with a girl! Get a good video of any girl's face. And remember, don't let Aoyama-kun or anyone else see you!"

"Masha won't! Masha won't!" came the voice from the robot again.

"Then go, " Ichigo commanded. "Out the window, down to Aoyama's house. Come back and report to me after he goes to bed tonight. Go!"

"Masha goes! Masha goes!" the robot said, and then it flitted through a high window that Ichigo opened, and was gone.

And Ichigo went back to removing her shoes.


	4. Through the Gates of Hell

**Chapter 4**

**Through the Gates of Hell**

The next evening Lettuce stood before her locker at the Cafe Mew Mew. She should have been putting on her uniform for work, but she was alone there in the dressing room, and when she was alone, her mind always wandered to Masaya. Her eyes stared into the locker, but they saw nothing. In her mind, all she could see was his face, his beautiful face. She wanted to be with him, not at the stupid cafe. But she needed the money, and she was still a member of the Mew Mews. So she had stayed; but she did not want to be there.

Then suddenly, she heard the door behind her, and she turned. And there was Ichigo, her body trembling, her eyes afire with anger. The red-haired girl stopped, and pointed her finger at Lettuce.

"So! It was you, you, you… You stinking whore!" Ichigo gasped through clenched teeth.

Lettuce thought at first to play the innocent, and she asked, "It was me? And what did I do?"

Ichigo nearly exploded. "You! You were the one who stole Aoyama-kun!"

Lettuce knew that sooner or later Ichigo would find out, and that she would have to face her. She took a step toward the other girl. "I stole no one," she said. "He chose me. He loves me!"

Ichigo began screaming. "You lying whore! He was mine! I loved him with all my heart! And you took him away! You… You…" In her raging anger she choked on her own words.

Lettuce was taller than her rival, taller and more shapely. Ichigo was wearing her usual school uniform, and she looked so… so _dumpy_ in it. For a second Lettuce in her vanity wondered why Masaya, who could have any girl he wanted, had fallen for her. But she shook off her pride, and said in a quiet but firm voice, "And he loved you, too. But your lives grew apart. And then he found me."

"You stole him!" Ichigo shrieked. "And I thought you were my friend! I trusted you!" Tears began streaming down her cheeks, tears of rage.

Lettuce knew from the beginning that she had cast that friendship aside when she touched Masaya. It was a shame, in a way; Ichigo had been a good friend. But any love Lettuce had had for the red-haired girl paled into nothingness when compared to the love she shared with Masaya. And so she said, "As I said, he chose me. He was not your property, just as he is not mine. He chose freely, Ichigo."

Ichigo's breaths were coming in wild gasps, now. " And I'm sure I know how you got him to choose! I know what you gave him, whore!"

Lettuce shook her head, and her voice grew hard. "Don't you insult him that way! We've done nothing like that." She looked down at the shorter girl. Ichigo was beyond herself in anger, and Lettuce knew that soon there would be violence. Ichigo was so immature in that way, always so ready to fight. Well, Lettuce thought, if there had to be a fight, she might as well get it over with. And so she said, "If you want to settle this, we can step out back…"

For a second Ichigo stopped gasping, and then she croaked, "You… you would fight me?" Again she gasped several breaths. And then, she shouted, "Yes! You're damned right! I'll fight you! Right now! You stinking whore, I'll give you what you deserve!" And she spun on her heel and stamped out of the door.

Lettuce took a deep breath. She had feared it would come to this. She, Lettuce, would face Ichigo in a fight to the finish. And she would win – she was sure of that. No one else would think she had a chance in such a fight. But she knew Ichigo's weakness, and she knew her own power. She knew her love for Masaya, and that love would give her strength. And she knew that though Masaya loved her, his heart was still divided, and it would remain divided until she had conquered her rival and proven, once for all, who was better for him. She nodded to herself, and kissed her pendant. "Mew Mew Lettuce, metamorpho-SIS!" she chanted. And as she spun in the air, the gentle, demure, studious Midorikawa Lettuce became the dangerous and sexy Mew Lettuce. She settled to the floor, a vision of glowing green: shining green eyes, flowing green hair, sexy green outfit. Then she stood for a few seconds, touching her pendant and making one final decision. Then she nodded to herself, and walked through the door.

At first she could not see Ichigo; the yard behind the cafe was empty. Apparently her rival had withdrawn into the trees that were back there. Or perhaps she had fled? Lettuce thought for only a second, and then shook her head. Ichigo would not run, not Ichigo. Foolish the red-haired girl might be, but brave she certainly was. She would not run. She would fight. So Lettuce began walking toward the trees.

Then she stopped again. What if her rival was waiting in ambush? A cheap shot in the back, with the power Ichigo was capable of wielding, could finish her with a single blow. But then she shook her head again. She knew her Ichigo. Ichigo would not ambush her with a shot from concealment any more than she would run. She would face Lettuce squarely. That was the way Ichigo was. She met her enemies head-on. So Lettuce kept walking, into the trees.

And then, as she entered a clearing in the trees, she saw her. Ichigo stood there, her arms crossed, apparently waiting quite impatiently for the fight to begin. But she had not transformed. She was still wearing the dumpy school uniform. Surely, Lettuce thought, she wasn't planning an old-fashioned fist fight? That would solve nothing! If one of them lost a fist fight, it would only lead to a final fight where they transformed and settled it once for all. But then, Ichigo was no Einstein, to put it mildly. Perhaps she hadn't considered what would happen after the fist fight was over.

Lettuce stopped and faced her rival, placing her hands on her hips. For a few seconds there was absolute silence, but then the red-haired girl said, "So _that's_ what you want! Transformed, and all? You don't know what you're getting into!"

Lettuce shook her head, a little. "You should know very well that if we just had a fist fight, it wouldn't settle anything. It would come down to this, anyway."

Ichigo nodded, and then took her pendant and kissed it. "Mew Mew Strawberry, _metamorpho…SIS!"_ she chanted, and she rose into the air and began spinning. Her dumpy school uniform was replaced by her rather silly, frilly Mew Mew minidress, and her cat ears and tail appeared.

The transformation took a long time – everything took a long time with Ichigo – and while it went on, it struck Lettuce that in some ways Ichigo's transformation was much like hers. For the other three Mew Mews, their transformations basically intensified what they already were: Pudding just became an even more hyperactive little monkey, Minto an even more graceful ballerina, Zakuro an even more elegant, sensual image of feminine perfection. But Lettuce changed far more profoundly: she left behind the quiet, demure, embarrassingly shy and modest girl she had been and became proud and brave – and astoundingly sexy. And Ichigo left behind the ditzy, dumpy, very standard junior high schooler and became a creature of great power, with a far greater outlook on life: one that would be of service to all the future of the world. Yes, Lettuce thought, it was right that she and Ichigo would be rivals. They were alike in so many ways, and not just in their love for Masaya! Surely she was much more like Ichigo than she was like Minto, or Pudding, or Zakuro!

And yet Lettuce knew that, though they were in some ways alike, yet she was better than Ichigo. She was such a better match for her beloved Masaya.

Finally Ichigo's transformation ended, and she settled to the ground and posed. It was supposed to be a sexy pose, but Lettuce thought that Ichigo never got that part right. Still, her rival was ready, now; and for the first time Lettuce felt nervous. She had been so sure that she would win the fight; but now, looking upon Ichigo in all her power, she was not so sure. But she thought: she must defeat Ichigo, and then Masaya would be hers for good. And she so loved him!

Lettuce looked upon her rival. Ichigo's eyes burned with anger and determination. Yet she did not attack; not yet. Was she afraid? Lettuce was sure she should be. She forced down her nervousness and reached out. "Lettuce Castanets!" she cried, and her weapons appeared in her hands.

She watched as the girl in pink took her Strawberry Bell. For a second more they glared at each other, and then they both spun up into the air. Ichigo would strike with her Strawberry Surprise, with the power that destroyed Deep Blue. That would be the end for Lettuce, but it never happened. For Lettuce came out of her spin with the chant _"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!"_ Her water blast caught her rival while she was still spinning and dumped her hard on the ground.

Lettuce would give her no chance to recover. She spun up into the air again, and again chanted, _"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!"_ And again her water blast crashed on the girl in pink.

But this time Ichigo held up her Strawberry Bell and deflected the attack, and she took no damage. Her defensive strength was very high; she had stopped even the attacks of Deep Blue. Lettuce expected her to try another Strawberry Surprise, but instead she scrambled off into the trees.

Lettuce paused. Had her rival taken that much damage from the first Lettuce Rush? Was she fleeing? But Lettuce knew that Ichigo would not flee, not with Aoyama Masaya at stake. Lettuce knew that Ichigo was a born fighter, with great natural instincts once a battle began. She undoubtedly was planning some way to get an attack against the much faster Lettuce. So Lettuce plunged into the trees after her.

She had run only about 30 or 40 meters when she entered a small opening in the trees. She saw nothing, and she paused again. Then suddenly she heard, to her right, a voice chanting: _"Ribbon: Strawberry Check!"_ Lettuce dived to right to get behind a tree and threw up her hands before her, using her Castanets to block the attack.

The main blast missed her, and the tree blocked some of the attack, and the Castanets blocked more; but even so Lettuce was torn by a horrible, burning magical pain as Ichigo's attack flashed by her. She received only a little edge of the attack, and most of that was blocked, and still it had almost torn her apart. Lettuce knew, now, that if Ichigo hit her squarely, it was over. She slipped from behind the tree and fled deeper into the woods.

Then she paused, gasping for breath. Where was Ichigo? For a second she thought of trying to end the fight; this was all too dangerous. But that would mean conceding Masaya to her rival, and she would never give up on his love. No, she would win this. She turned back and headed toward the Cafe, where the trees were more open, and Ichigo would have less of a chance of surprising her again. In a minute or two she was back in the open glade where the fight had started, and for a second she stepped out into the open.

It was silent as she looked around. She couldn't see Ichigo. She paused, straining her eyes, her ears, every sense she had, to try to detect her rival. But she could see nothing, hear nothing, sense nothing. She took another step forward, then another.

And then, out of the corner of her left eye, something glittered. She turned, and there was Ichigo, spinning up into the air, many-colored sparkles glittering around her. Lettuce was too far from cover to escape. She could only spin and chant desperately, _"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!"_ And a split second before Ichigo could cut loose the magic blast that would destroy her, she let fly her deadly water blast.

It hit her pink-clad rival directly, right at the peak of her spin, and she folded up like a grouse popped on the rise. Her body crashed to earth, and bounced when it hit. Lettuce could see she was done, defeated. But as the green-clad girl stepped toward her enemy, she saw that somehow, Ichigo was getting up. Broken, battered, her face a mess of black marks, Ichigo was getting up again.

Once again Lettuce spun into the air. _"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!"_ Another direct hit sent the girl in pink flying. And this time Lettuce was taking no chances. _"Lettuce Rush! Lettuce Rush!" _Twice more she blasted her fallen opponent. And Lettuce thought: once more would certainly finish her. So yet again she spun up into the air, and began to chant, _"Ribbon…"_ But she stopped herself, and settled to the ground.

What had come over her? she thought. She was thinking of finishing Ichigo off, killing her. What had happened to her? She shuddered. The other girl lay on the ground, a broken, battered heap. Was she dead? With fear and trembling Lettuce approached the fallen Ichigo.

She was not dead. She was still moving weakly, and Lettuce could not believe what she saw: Ichigo was still trying to get up.

Somehow, the beaten girl almost inaudibly gasped a few words: "Straw… berry…" She gasped a couple of breaths, and then the tortured whispers began again, "…Bell…" And he hand feebly grasped for the Bell that did not appear.

It was truly pathetic, Lettuce thought. And she said, quietly but firmly. "Stay down. It's over." But the broken girl in pink kept trying to get up, though she was hurt too badly to move.

Lettuce just shook her head. Then she planted her foot on the defeated Ichigo, and said, strongly, "I won. He's mine! You understand that? He's mine!" But the battered, helpless girl just kept gasping, trying to call forth her Strawberry Bell.

The victorious Lettuce again shook her head. Thrilling things were surging through her mind and heart, things she had never felt before. Masaya was hers now, completely and totally. And yet there was something else: she was aware that something had changed forever. Along with Ichigo, something else had fallen that day. The painfully shy and gentle Lettuce of old was no more. Now there was the strong and proud Lettuce, the Lettuce that would rule the Mew Mews. She was the best, and she had proven it.

One last time she looked down on the defeated Ichigo, who was still feebly trying to get up. Ichigo had nearly been killed, but she would not die now. Magical girls were notoriously hard to kill, and Ichigo would recover from the magic-shock quickly enough. So Lettuce turned and walked away, leaving the pathetic loser behind her. Yet even as she walked away, she heard that miserable voice, still gasping: "Aoyama… kun…"

* * *

_Author's note: In the anime, if both girls start with their weapons already in their hands (the Strawberry Bell for Ichigo, the Castanets for Lettuce), it takes about 14 seconds for Ichigo to cast the Strawberry Check, but only about 6 seconds for Lettuce to cast the Lettuce Rush. Yes, I timed it._

_tgwWhale_


	5. Aftermath

**Chapter 5**

**Aftermath**

Lettuce strutted away from the beaten Ichigo. She had always been the loser; now she was the winner. Never again would that red-haired loser touch her beloved Masaya. She would be the leader of the Mew Mews now, too. And she deserved it; she had beaten the old leader, hadn't she?

Then she noticed that she was not alone. The other Mew Mews were there, and Ryou and Keiichiro! Apparently they had been drawn by the transformations, and all of the magical energy released in the fight. So she would have to face them, now. But it did not frighten her.

First there were the Mew Mews, standing in a group, all transformed. Clearly they were not happy over her victory. Pudding was in tears, sobbing inconsolably. Minto had fear in her eyes, as if she thought Lettuce would attack her next, and she drew back from Lettuce. But Zakuro stepped forward, and her eyes burned with anger.

"You bastard!" she muttered.

Lettuce stopped and faced the taller girl, her hands on her hips. Her green eyes stared right into the dark sapphire eyes of the idol. "Any time you want to try me… I'm ready," she said proudly.

But Zakuro just shook her head. "I wouldn't waste my time."

Lettuce sneered, probably for the first time in her life. "And you shouldn't want to try me," she said. "I know your weakness, just like I knew hers."

She had openly challenged Zakuro, and Lettuce knew it. Minto and Pudding would not be able to challenge her for leadership of the Mew Mews, but Zakuro, being older and more powerful, might be another matter. Yet all Zakuro said was, "I said, I wouldn't waste my time on that." Yet she did not back down. She crossed her arms, and stood there.

Lettuce felt the sting of the insult. So the haughty Zakuro was too good to dirty her hands fighting her? She, who had just conquered Ichigo in single combat? She wanted to go after Zakuro right there. But it was not the time, or the place. If she took on Zakuro there and then, the other two would side with Zakuro, and she doubted that she could beat all three at once. So she just shook her head and walked past them.

Then she had to pass Ryou and Keiichiro. They stood together, looking doubtful and worried. As Lettuce walked up to them, Ryou asked, simply: "Why?" And Lettuce, without greeting them, said simply: "Well, I guess now we all know who's better." They said nothing more, and Lettuce walked past them, and entered the back door of the cafe.

* * *

That evening, Lettuce found Masaya in the back corner of the library again. She was wearing nothing like he had seen her wear before: her dark green top was cut very low, revealing her shapely cleavage, and her skirt of lighter green was so short that it might have embarrassed a prostitute to wear it. She approached the table carrying only a single book, and winked at him. Then she leaned forward, placing her hand on the table to balance herself, and of course revealing her cleavage even more severely. "Hi, Masaya-kun," she half-whispered with a sexy half-smile.

Masaya stared at her with a puzzled look in his eyes. He first saw her breasts, of course, but quickly he looked into her blue eyes. "Do I know you, lady?" he asked.

Lettuce thought he was joking, and she circled the table. She reached down and took the boy's hand, and raised him up. Then her arms took him, and she pressed her lips against his. He started returning the kiss, and she pressed harder. Then her lips parted, and her tongue pressed into his mouth. But his teeth were closed.

Then he broke off the kiss and pushed her away. "I guess I really don't know who you are," he said quietly.

Lettuce pulled back, mystified. What kind of a game was he playing? Aoyama Masaya did not play games. She stumbled on her words, and then managed to ask, "What… what do you mean, do you know me?"

He looked at her quietly. "I knew a girl who looked like you, once. She had a funny name, an English name. Lettuce. If you don't speak English, it means _Retasu._" He looked down for a second, and then back up at the girl's eyes. "She was the kindest, gentlest girl I ever met, and very modest. I actually had a crush on her, once. I thought I loved her."

"Don't you like what I'm wearing?" Lettuce demanded angrily.

The boy shook his head. "Lettuce, that skirt is so short that would embarrass _Sailor Moon,_ for Pete's sake! You don't have to dress like a common hooker or the biggest slut in the school to show off your figure. You have the best figure around for a girl your age. I think it's even better than Zakuro-san's, because she's too tall and skinny for my taste, and you've got more curves." He paused, waiting for the girl to speak; but she said nothing, so he went on, "Lettuce, why did you do it? Why did you do that to Ichigo?"

Lettuce stumbled back, her eyes wide open in shock. "What do you mean? What I did…"

Masaya shook his head. "Don't make a fool of yourself, Lettuce-san. I was there. I saw what you did to Ichigo."

Lettuce gasped, and she felt the heart shatter in her breast. "You… what? You were… there? How… how did you know?"

Masaya looked down at his hands and spoke quietly. "Did you really forget?" He looked up. "You know that I was born to protect Ichigo. I always know when she's in danger. I always know when she's hurt."

Anger suddenly rose in Lettuce's heart. "Protect her? _Her?"_ she gasped. "Then you still love her? You said you loved me!"

Masaya stepped toward her. "Lettuce-san, I chose you. I guess it was a bad choice, but I chose you. I didn't choose to protect Ichigo. I was born to that, and I can't avoid it."

"But when we were fighting, you came to help her!" Lettuce wailed, too loudly for the library.

Masaya touched his finger to his lips to keep her voice down, and then shook his head. "I didn't know whom she was fighting. Really, I didn't know that she was fighting at all. I just knew she was in danger, and she was hurt. I came right as soon as I felt it, but I was too late. When I got there, I saw you bring her down." He stepped out from behind the table, and approached Lettuce. His voice became very low, just above a whisper. "I was too late. She was down. I thought the fight was over. But you didn't stop. You hit her over and over. If you hadn't stopped when you did, I'd have taken you down."

"So you were on her side!" Lettuce barked in an angry whisper.

Again the boy shook his head. "If she was pounding you, I'd have stopped her. But I wouldn't have had to take her down to do it."

"But she kept getting up!" Lettuce whined. "She wouldn't stay down!"

Masaya reached out and touched the girl's shoulder. "Lettuce, you've known her almost as long as I have. You know she'll never quit, never surrender. But she had nothing left. She couldn't hurt you any more."

"I didn't know!" Lettuce responded. "I didn't have time to think! She kept getting up!" Tears trickled down her cheek.

"You need to know, you need to think, when you wield that kind of power. You know that, Lettuce," Masaya said.

"So now you lecture me!" Lettuce whined. "You don't love me! You still love her!"

"Don't play that game, Lettuce-chan," the boy said. "You know I had to choose, and I chose you. I chose you because our minds met, because you fascinated me as a girl who was so beautiful and sexy on the one hand, and on the other hand someone I could really talk to about the things I care about. On the one hand, the sexiest girl in her school. On the other hand, someone who could be my friend in a way that Ich – that that other girl couldn't. But the girl I chose was kind and gentle and humble and very, very modest. She was always apologizing, even when she had done nothing wrong. But that girl, it seems, is dead. And the one that replaced her is vain and proud – and mean. Really mean." He turned away from her for a second. "You almost killed her, Lettuce. My girlfriend was a breath away from being a murderer."

She reached out and grabbed his shoulder, and turned him back to face her. "You know what she's like! You know her wild temper. She came after me, screamed in my face, called me a whore over and over, accused me of bedding you to win you away from her. You know what was coming. Her temper, so out of control…"

"Who started the fight, Lettuce-chan? Who transformed first?" the boy asked quietly.

"She did!" Lettuce lied. "She was a monster! It was me or her – one of us was going down! I had to fight her, or give up having you! And I love you! I wouldn't run, so I had to fight! I had to protect myself! She was going to kill me unless…" She spun away from him and burst wildly into tears.

He reached out and laid his right hand on her quivering shoulder, and asked in a low, calm, voice, "Lettuce-chan, who started it? Who transformed first?"

For many seconds Lettuce just sobbed. And then she gasped the words, "I did."

"Lettuce, face me," Masaya said. She slowly turned back to him. And he spoke strangely: "Lettuce, what is wrong with me? What have I done to you, to turn you into a liar? What have I said, to turn kind, humble Lettuce into vain and cruel Lettuce? "

Lettuce gasped her response through her tears. "You? You said nothing, did nothing. It was me, just me. All my life I'd been kicked around, used, and then cast aside. Every boy I liked rejected me, all my so-called friends used me. Then suddenly I had it all, the best guy around, the most handsome, the most popular. This boy…" She gasped a few breaths before continuing. "This boy… was the one that all the other girls wanted. And he wanted me! Me! Midorikawa Lettuce!"

She turned away from him again and after a few more gasping breaths continued. "But to get this guy, I had to betray the best friend I ever had. And I made that choice, that wicked choice. I betrayed all of her trust in me, all of her love for me. And I guess I couldn't live with the guilt. I couldn't live with being sweet, humble Lettuce, not after betraying her like that." Again she turned back to him. "I had to believe I was _right_, that she was wrong. And if I proved I was the best, then I deserved him! And I beat her! I did prove I was the best! I was good enough for Aoyama Masaya!"

He looked at her without any comprehension. But after many long seconds, he spoke: "Lettuce, what is left for me here, but guilt and shame? I have broken Ichigo's heart. I have hurt you far more. I have led you far down the wrong path, the path of evil. All I can do is get away from all this, before someone else gets hurt, or worse."

And he began to turn away, but she grabbed his arm. "No! Don't leave me!" she begged.

But he simply asked, again: "What is left for me here?"

Lettuce gasped. He was leaving; she was losing him forever. She had cast aside her friends, and in a very real sense she had cast aside herself. He was all she had, now. And she had no answer to his question, nothing to offer him. Nothing but…

She took off the big round glasses, and said his name: "Masaya-kun." Then she seized him with frightening power, and kissed him like she had never kissed before. He was stiff, nervous, frightened, ashamed; but she just kissed him the more. And she felt the stiffness in his arms and shoulders subside as he began responding to the caress of her lips; and he melted in her arms.

How long they kissed, Lettuce did not know. Yet finally he broke off the kiss, and whispered to her, "Lettuce, I'm going now. I'd like to walk you home, but after what we've been through tonight, well – you know what we'd end up doing, and neither of us needs that. But I'd like to see you tomorrow night, not here, but for a real date."

Lettuce nodded, but she said, "I have to work at the Cafe tomorrow – if they haven't fired me."

"Then I'd like to walk you home from the Cafe," the boy said.

And Lettuce nodded – and smiled.

* * *

Ichigo sat alone on the edge of her bed, crying. Keiichiro had driven her home, and helped her up to her bedroom. She had told her mother that she didn't feel well, and that was true enough. Her entire body ached from the terrible beating she had received from that accursed Lettuce. The magic-shock was beginning to wear off, but her body was still battered. And her heart was battered worse.

For she knew that her Aoyama-kun was gone for good, now. And after he found out that she had fought Lettuce over him, he would certainly hate her. And she had lost. She couldn't believe it, but that whore Lettuce had beaten her. She knew what that fight had been about: winner take all. And she had lost. She kept crying, but it didn't help. He was gone, gone forever; and her life was empty and dark.

She had quit her job, too, of course. The two guys had tried to talk her out of it, but she couldn't stay there, not with Lettuce still there. Ryou had said they could fire Lettuce, but Ichigo knew that wouldn't work. Lettuce had won the fight. She would stay, she would lead the Mew Mews. Ichigo was done. She had even wanted to give back her pendant, but Keiichiro had said no one else could ever use it, because it was bound to her DNA, and to her soul. So she had kept it; but she took something else off. The bell, Aoyama's bell, she took from around her neck, and now it lay it on the dresser. She thought of throwing it away, but she knew she never could. She could wear it no more, but she would keep it until the day she died. For she knew she could never love another.

And so she sat alone on the edge of her bed. Her beloved Aoyama-kun was gone, her friends were gone, her job was gone, everything was gone. She sat alone on the edge of the bed, with her bruised body and her broken heart, and cried and cried and cried.

How long she sat there she did not know. But after a long while, she heard something. At first she thought it was her mother, coming up to check on her; but it was not that. She thought she heard a noise at the window. Perhaps some bird or animal was trying to get in? She painfully got up from the bed and made her way to the window. There seemed nothing there, so she opened it and looked out into the darkness.

"Hi, Kitten!"

Ichigo was startled by the voice. She looked out, and there, sitting in the tree outside of her window, was a tall, pale figure. He had long ears and strange clothing that left his midriff bare. His longish green hair was tied into a sort of ponytail on either side of his face. She knew him right away: the alien, Kisshu.

Ichigo was shocked and said nothing. They had seen nothing of the aliens since they had left following the defeat of Deep Blue. That had been a half-year before, and Ichigo had begun to think that they would never see them again. But Kisshu was there, as big as life. Ichigo was not pleased to see him; the alien had become obsessed with her and had stalked her, trying to romance her or seduce her when he wasn't trying to kill her.

In a flash Kisshu leaped from the tree to the window – being able to fly helps a lot with such things – and asked, "Mind if I come in?" Ichigo would have said she certainly did mind, but it did not matter. He crawled through the window uninvited.

Ichigo retreated from him. She did not want the alien around, and she certainly did not want him in her bedroom. But he had never cared what she wanted in the past, and he certainly didn't seem to care now.

The alien smiled, a bit wickedly, and the light in Ichigo's bedroom glinted in his alien eyes, golden eyes with narrow-slit pupils, like a cat's. He stepped toward Ichigo, who backed away until her legs touched the bed, and she could back no more. He kept approaching, and in her fear Ichigo mumbled, "What do you want? Why are you here?"

Kisshu stopped, canted his head to the side, and lost his smile for a few seconds. He appeared hurt, but Ichigo never quite believed any emotions that the alien gave. "What do I want? Kitten, you know what I want. I miss you. I came across all of space to find you."

Ichigo shook her head. "Well, I didn't miss you, no, sir! Things were just fine when you were gone, just fine…"

Even more pain slid across those alien eyes. "You still tied down by that fool of a boyfriend of yours, that silly child?"

At those words Ichigo's eyes flooded with tears. Her face fell and she stared at her feet. "No. No, Kisshu, we broke up. He… he dumped me for another woman."

"He dumped you?" Kisshu exclaimed. "I always knew he was a fool."

"He's no fool," Ichigo said, quietly but bitterly. "He just… found someone he loved more, someone better for him."

"I can't imagine anyone better than you," the alien whispered.

"Oh, please!" the girl said disgustedly. "Don't tell me there's never been another for you."

The alien smiled his wicked smile again. "Others? Of course there have been others. On our planet we three – myself and Pai and Taruto – are big heroes, because we brought back the Mew Aqua last time. I can have all the girls I want. But none of them can compare to you…"

"Why not?" the girl objected. "There's nothing special about me… nothing!" Again tears began trickling out of her eyes when she said that.

The alien reached out and gently touched the girl's red hair. "Nothing special? None of those others can hold a candle to you!" Ichigo did not respond, but just looked into the alien's eyes; so he continued, "First of all, you're just plain hot. That red hair is so wonderful, and your figure… the girls back home are so plain in comparison. And then there's the power hidden in you, and that's _so_ sexy. And how brave you are… I couldn't imagine any other girl coming close to what you have."

Kisshu's praises felt good in Ichigo's heart, but then her face fell again. "Aoyama found one who… must have had more."

Kisshu shook his head. "He's really a moron! And he never really loved you. He just used you, to comfort himself, until he found another."

"No! I really loved him!" Ichigo objected.

Again Kisshu smiled. "Of course you did." Then the smile left his face, and his eyes filled with concern. "But he never loved you, not really. He just used you."

Ichigo shook her head slowly, but said nothing.

Kisshu removed his hand from her hair and turned away. "Where do you get these crazy ideas?" he asked. "That there's someone out there better than you, more desirable, that you're not the hottest girl in the galaxy? Those friends of yours down at that eatery where you work? Are they the ones that fill your head with all those fool ideas?"

Ichigo reached out and touched his shoulder. "I don't work at the Cafe any more," she said quietly and with obvious pain. "I don't see those people any more."

"But what about the Mew Mew thing?" the alien demanded.

Ichigo stared at her feet again. "After the fall of Deep Blue, we had no more enemies to fight. I guess the Mew Mews aren't needed any more."

"So now that they don't need you any more, they have no use for you?" Kisshu asked angrily. "Some friends they were! They were just using you, too! When they needed you, they were all so friendly. Now, when you're heartbroken and you need them, they cast you aside. They didn't love you any more than that useless excuse for a boyfriend."

Ichigo again shook her head, slowly. "It wasn't like that…"

But the alien went on. "It looks like that's the way humans are. They use you and cast you aside! Face it, there's only one that ever really loved you!"

Ichigo snorted. "You mean, you? Please! Do you forget the time you tried to kill me when I was too sick and weak to fight back, or the time you knocked me off the chimera moth at the Tokyo Tower and left me to fall to my death?"

But the alien retorted, "Do _you_ forget the time I sacrificed myself to save you from Deep Blue?" He reached out and took the girl by her left shoulder. "I've changed, Ichigo. Yeah, at first, I thought you were just one more human in our way, just a cuter one than the others. But the more I got to know you… Ichigo, I fell in love with you. I love you still, I'll love you forever, and I'll never be able to love another!"

Those golden alien eyes stared into the girl's eyes of violet-gray. His hand moved up from her shoulder, and with great tenderness, embraced her cheek. Her body was trembling, and she was horribly frightened; but she did not back away.

And suddenly his arms encircled her and his lithe, slender body pressed against hers, and his lips kissed hers. At first he kissed her with soft tenderness, but then he kissed harder and harder, and the trembling Ichigo gave in to his kiss and returned it.

On and on they kissed, and suddenly Ichigo felt his tongue in her mouth. She didn't want that, not at that time, and she pulled back for a second. "Kisshu," she whispered. "Please, no tongues, OK?"

And he nodded, but kissed her again, with ever more passion, as his body worked against hers, and his hands caressed her face, her neck, her shoulders, her back. This was not like kissing Aoyama-kun. His kisses had been soft, tender caresses; Kisshu's kiss was an explosion of passion, a struggle for control and domination, a bursting forth of unlimited desire. Ichigo felt herself melting helplessly, overwhelmed by his passion, her heart filling ever more with lust for this magnificent alien.

And yet he kissed her on, and on, and his hands caressed her more, and more; and then his tongue was in her mouth again. But then, she felt something different: she felt his hand reaching up under her shirt. Her left hand took his arm and pulled it down. "No," she said; but she kept kissing him. Here, at last, was love as it should always have been, Ichigo thought. She kissed him now as passionately as he kissed her, and her hands stroked the long, strong muscles of his back. But then she felt his hand reach under her skirt.

She pulled back from the kiss, and said, "Kisshu, you keep that hand out of there, or you'll get a knee where it really counts."

The alien smiled wickedly. "Mee-ow! Always my kitten!"

Ichigo smiled back at him, warmly, with glowing eyes, now. "And don't try it with the other hand, either." Then her hand reached around behind his neck, and pulled his lips down to hers. And they kissed on into the night.


	6. Black Friday

**Chapter 6**

**Black Friday**

Ichigo smiled as she pulled back her lips from the alien's, and stared into those sexy golden eyes of his. "Kisshu, it's past midnight," she sighed. "Tomorrow's Saturday, but I still have to get up before noon."

The alien smiled back with a sassy, wicked smile. "Not quite yet, Kitten," he whispered. "We're not quite done yet." And he pulled her body back to his.

But Ichigo, still smiling, shook her head gently. "Kisshu, I'm too young for that. We humans…" All week he had been coming to her in the night, starting on that horrible Monday when Lettuce had destroyed her world. And each time he had come, he had worn down her resistance more; each evening he had gotten farther. But so far, she had kept him… kept him out of her panties. So far. She did not want to, any more. She loved him so! And he was the only one in the universe who really loved her.

A small scowl touched the alien's lips, and it hurt Ichigo to see even that. She never wanted to hurt him, for he loved her so! But she was only fourteen…

The alien's scowl deepened, and he said, "You humans are fools, to wait so long. It's just what people do when we care for someone," he said. "And I love you, and I was even beginning to think that you might actually love me. If we really loved each other…"

"Kisshu, not tonight. I'm just not ready, OK?" she protested. In honest truth, she wanted him as badly as he wanted her, maybe more, she thought.

"What do you mean, you're not ready?" he demanded. "How young were you when you first did it with that idiot ex of yours?"

She chuckled a bit. "Kisshu, Aoyama and I never… Kisshu, I've never done that, never close."

"What?" he gasped. "The sexiest girl on two planets, and she's never… not once, even?"

Ichigo smiled. "Kisshu, there are issues. What if I get… pregnant? I mean, I thought about it, and I would love to someday make a family with you, but I'm too young. I'm still in junior high! I'm not mature enough to be a mother – and I don't even know if you and I could make a child. I mean, we're different species and all. But I certainly don't want to make one now."

Kisshu smiled in return. "Ichigo, I really doubt I could make you pregnant. And if I did, well, we know… how to fix that. It won't be a problem, really. So come on, lets…" And his hand reached behind her neck to draw her back toward him.

But Ichigo shook her head. "Not tonight, Kisshu, not tonight, please…"

The alien suddenly backed away. "So you don't love me! After all I've done for you, all the love I've given you, you still want that useless little boy! Well, if that's the way you want it…"

And he turned to leave. But as he walked away, Ichigo felt the heart tear out of her breast to go with him. She could not lose him! She could not live without him! And so she gasped out the words: "No! Kisshu, don't go! I need you! Kisshu…" Tears began pouring from her eyes.

He turned back to her. "I can't keep giving this kind of love without being loved in return. It makes me feel used, really used."

And through her tears, she gasped: "Kisshu… tomorrow night, OK? I promise, tomorrow night! Just don't leave me!"

And once again the alien's sassy smile twisted his lips, and he said quietly, "OK. Tomorrow night! I'll be here!" And he stepped forward and kissed her one more time before leaving through the window.

And Ichigo was left alone in the dark, trembling with fear and anticipation. She had promised him, and she kept her promises. Would it be good, or bad? Would it hurt? She wished she was still at the Café, so she could ask Zakuro about this. Zakuro always knew about those private things. But she would never see Zakuro again. She even thought of asking her mother, but then a smile crossed her lips in the darkness as she imagined that. "Mom, I'm gonna give up my virginity tonight by banging a space alien. How should I do it?" No, that would not work! So she just lay alone on her bed, staring up into in the darkness. She wanted tomorrow to come, but she was afraid, so afraid.

* * *

The girls had gone home. Even for a Friday, the customers had stayed long, and it was well past 9:00 when Shirogane Ryou went to lock the front door of the Cafe. But just as he reached it, it swung open, and two characters walked in. One was a tall adult, the other a short child. And both had long, extended ears: aliens. Pai and Taruto.

Ryou's blue eyes popped open wide in surprise. He had not seen the aliens, or heard anything about them, since they had left following the defeat of Deep Blue. They had left on good terms, but somehow Ryou knew that things were not on good terms now. There was a coldness about them that made his skin crawl.

"Pai-san. Taruto-san. Welcome," Ryou said. Then he called over his shoulder, "Keiichiro! Come out quickly!"

The older alien spoke in very abrupt tones. "Greetings, human," he said to Ryou; and then as Keiichiro came running out of the kitchen, he repeated those same words.

"Greetings, honored guests," Keiichiro said, with a smile. "Would you like a seat? Is there anything we can get for you? Some tea, maybe?"

"None of that, thank you," Pai said.

Ryou looked the two aliens over intently. "It seems as if someone is missing," he said.

"Ah, yes," the tall alien responded. "Kisshu. He's around, of course. There's no way that we could come to your world and not take him along. But who knows where he's off to? That's the way it is with the young these days – no discipline."

"Aw, he's probably off chasing women," the child, Taruto, said. "Mostly, he's girl-crazy, I think."

The adult alien smiled. "Taruto, give yourself a few years and you might be the same way. I remember a little blonde monkey-girl that you were sweet on once…"

"Hey, Pai, you stop kidding me about that one! Everyone makes mistakes!" Taruto objected.

Then the tall alien turned back to the two humans. "Actually, there is something you can get for us. We have been monitoring your world, and have been finding some strange energy readings on our instruments. We can come to only one conclusion: you have found more Mew Aqua. We need it."

Ryou shook his head. "We just discovered a few small fragments, and it's not for sale."

The adult alien's face darkened. "I was afraid you might react like that. I said, we need it. We have done much good on our home world with the fragment we brought back after the war. But we need much more to make our entire world properly livable."

Ryou spoke again. "We sympathize with your plight. But we, too, have uses for the stuff. And we are the ones who defeated Deep Blue and, you might say, won the right to keep it."

Then Keiichiro spoke up. "Perhaps we could trade some Mew Aqua for some of your advanced technology?"

Pai openly scowled. "Your primitive planet is not nearly ready for our technology." His voice grew harsh. "You do not realize your position. If you do not give us the Mew Aqua, we will take it."

Ryou's voice grew hard, as well. "So, you want to go another round? Do you forget how it ended last time?"

The child alien smiled wickedly. "I think you'll find that our power has grown a lot since then."

"Taruto!" Pai said, silencing the child. Then he turned back to the humans. "We will be back in the morning. If you do not give the Mew Aqua then, we will take it."

"You will try!" Ryou barked. But the aliens ignored him, and without another word, they turned and left. At least they used the door, and did not teleport away.

Ryou and Keiichro were left alone, staring at each other. "Can you believe it?" Ryou muttered. "Out of the blue, without warning, we lose Ichigo, and then within a week the aliens are back, and it's war again."

Keiichiro, always positive, said in a low but hopeful voice, "Maybe we can contact Ichigo. Maybe she'll come."

But Ryou shook his head. "You know we can't. Not only has she quit, but if she comes back – she hates Lettuce so much, she'll probably join the aliens against us."

Keiichiro shook his head in return. "I can't imagine Ichigo helping to destroy us. But you're right, we can't turn to her now. But we'd better call the other girls, right now. We may need them first thing in the morning, and tomorrow's Saturday, and those kids probably will be dead to the world until noon."

Ryou half-smiled at the thought. "You're right, though I'm sure Pudding's siblings will have her up at the crack of dawn."

Keiichiro nodded. "We still should call them now." And Ryou nodded.

But Keiichiro was always positive, and he said, quite strangely: "You know, if we get crushed tomorrow – it won't be quite so bad."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "We'll probably end up dead – and that's not so bad?"

But Keiichiro responded, "Last time, they were going to destroy the entire human race. This time, if we lose, they'll just steal the Mew Aqua."

But Ryou said bitterly, "But if we're destroyed, who's left to stop them if they decide to wipe out everyone the next time around?"

Keiichiro shrugged. "Please, one disaster at a time! Let's try to get through tomorrow, first."

They were both silent for a while, and then Keiichiro said, "And one more thing. If we don't have Ichigo, we probably don't have the Blue Knight, either."

"Damn!" Ryou cursed.


	7. Fall, Again

**Chapter 7**

**Fall, Again**

Early the next morning Keiichiro found Ryou staring at his computer. Either the blond had gotten up even earlier than Keiichiro had – a rare occurrence – or he had been up all night. A quick glance at Ryou's haggard, unshaven face told Keiichiro that the other had indeed been up all night.

Ryou looked up at him. "Well, it's started," he muttered through clenched teeth. There are reports of something wreaking all kinds of destruction just west of here. Look." He switched screens on his computer, and a map of the area around the Café Mew Mew appeared. And on the map there were several blobs of ugly light.

"Sensor returns!' Keiichiro said. "At least four of them!"

Ryou nodded. "I just got done analyzing them. These three here –" He pointed to the screen before continuing. "These three here are our alien 'friends.' Their magical signatures are pretty much the same as they were before, though there are a few changes that I haven't analyzed yet." Then he pointed again. "This big one here, in front of them, seems to be some sort of chimera anima. But it's different from the ones we used to fight, and I haven't been able to analyze the differences yet. Anyway, it's getting into the park behind the Café, and it's coming this way."

"We have to call the Mew Mews now!" Keiichiro gasped.

"No time for phones – use their pendants!" Ryou said. And then he went back to trying to analyze what was on his computer screen. He had very little time to do this, but they had to know what they were up against.

And each of the Mew Mews got the summons. Lettuce was jerked awake out of a sweet dream of Masaya. She was groggy for a second, but when she realized what message was coming through her pendant, she leaped out of bed and, still in her pajamas, she kissed her pendant and began spinning as she transformed into Mew Lettuce. She smiled as she did so, and was thankful that transformation always left her hair and make-up perfect. After all, it would not do if she looked like she had just crawled out of bed. Masaya might show up at this, and she had to look good!

Minto, too, was in a sound sleep when the alarm came. She groaned angrily when she heard it; she wanted to sleep late. But she forced herself out of bed, transformed, and flew out of her bedroom window, heading for the Café.

Pudding was up, of course, making some breakfast for her five younger siblings. She was cooking oatmeal, and it wasn't quite done when the summons came. But there was no time to waste. In a matter of seconds she used two spoons at once to ladle the non-quite-hot-enough stuff into bowls, put the bowls on the table, called the kids, and slipped out of the door. She had to find a place where she could be alone to transform; she would never let her young siblings see that.

And Zakuro, too, was awake, alone in that old church where she always went when things looked bad. She glanced around, and seeing no one, quickly transformed and bounded out of the door, heading for the Café.

* * *

And back at the Café, the two men watched their computer screen with ever-growing concern. The thing, whatever it was, was clearly moving toward the Café. And without the girls present, they had no defense against it. It was not moving too quickly, though; and Keiichiro said, "You know, we could grab the Mew Aqua, jump in the car, and run for it."

Ryou continued staring at the screen. "We might have to, I suppose. But that thing, whatever it is, is destroying everything in its path, and probably killing people. We have to try stopping it if we can."

"Are the Mew Mews coming?" Keiichiro asked.

The blond nodded. "All four of them. Here, I'll go to a larger scale…" He clicked something on the computer, and the map grew much larger in scale. And four shining dots were now visible: yellow, blue, purple, and green. All were headed for the Café at high speed.

Keiichiro shook his head. "No pink dot. I know it was foolish, but somehow I kept hoping that Ichigo would come."

"As for me, I'm just happy she hasn't appeared over on the other side, behind the chimera amima," Ryou muttered.

"Maybe she's just late, as usual," Keiichiro said with a small smile.

Ryou sighed. "You miss her, too, don't you? Her and her foolish ways…"

Keiichiro nodded, and said, sadly, "Yeah, I miss her. But there's more than that involved. Without her, will the girls have the power to stop that thing, whatever it is? I mean, in the last war, it was always Ichigo who had the power to finish off the chimera animas. And that thing on your screen seems a lot bigger and more powerful than the chimera animas we fought last time."

"Zakuro finished a lot of them herself," Ryou said.

"Little ones," Keiichiro said. "Only little ones."

Ryou sighed again and became silent; but then the front door opened. The surveillance camera showed that Minto had arrived, and the computer screen showed that the other three were not far behind. "You'd better go get them in here right now," he said; and Keiichiro left to do just that.

And so within two minutes the four Mew Mews were gathered around Ryou's computer, watching the thing get closer and closer to the Café. "What is it?" Zakuro asked.

Ryou shrugged. "Some kind of chimera anima. But not quite the same as in the last war, to be sure. The magical signature is a lot bigger and brighter. And last night, when the aliens made their demands, the dumb kid blabbed something about their power having grown since the last war. So I suppose this is some kind of super-chimera-anima. In any case, there seems to be only one of them, unless they've invented some kind of stealth monster. The three signatures behind the chimera are the three aliens."

"Taru-Taru!" Pudding shouted. "Pudding wants to see Taru-Taru!"

"Pudding has to fight Taru-Taru today," Ryou said, grimly. "But there's one more thing about this picture that is strange. Just as the chimera anima registers as more powerful than the ones from the last war, the aliens themselves register as less powerful. And it's not just a trick of the computer screen; I checked their measurements against those we measured the last time. They're distinctly down, by a third or more. Strange."

"Well, in any case, we have to fight them," Lettuce said. "What we'll do is this: Mew Pudding, you go out and go to the right, and approach the thing from that side. When you get close enough, throw a Pudding Ring at it. You probably don't have the power to actually hold it, but that will distract it. When it goes after you, do your monkey thing, make yourself hard to hit, stay away from it. We other three will go to the left and come in behind whatever it is, and fry its butt."

Pudding and Minto apparently were ready to obey Lettuce's commands; clearly they had accepted her as the new leader of the Mew Mews. But Zakuro scowled openly, and stared at the girl in green with a look so sour that it could have curdled milk. Just as clearly she had _not_ accepted Lettuce as the leader; and very likely there was going to be trouble between the two girls. But Ryou cut that conflict short with a simple command: "Tokyo Mew Mew: Go!"

And at a run, the girls piled out the back door and headed into the woods behind the Café.

Pudding slipped away into the bushes on the right, and in a matter of minutes she could see their adversary. It was huge, eight or ten meters high, and it was horrible: a true chimera, composed of not one creature magically enlarged and perverted, but three. Partly it was a spider, black and ugly; Pudding could see its multiple legs clearly, as well as its loathsome face and horrible fangs. Partly it was some kind of a hedgehog, for it was covered all over with sharp spines for defense. And partly it was a snake, for the thing had a tail, and of course the tail was a long and deadly viper. Poison on the front end and poison on the back, thought the yellow Mew Mew; and probably poison spines as well. It was crushing and destroying everything in its path, and, it seemed, eating anything edible. Pudding thought that it would probably find monkey-girls especially delicious.

In the air behind the thing she could see the three aliens: Pai, Kisshu, and her "friend" Taruto. Ryou had said that they were less powerful than they had been before, but they looked the same size to Pudding. She really wanted to talk to Taru-Taru, but first she would have to stop the rampaging monster. She should have been terrified of it; but fear and Pudding really did not go together.

So she leaped into the air and chanted, _"Ribbon: Pudding Ring Inferno!"_ And she sent the biggest pudding ring she could generate against the thing.

It didn't work. The monster allowed it to strike, but when it hit the spines, the pudding disintegrated. Still, the thing saw what had attacked it, and turned toward Pudding, crushing some park benches and trash cans as it did so. Then it charged forward, roaring, smashing trees and brush out of its way. For all of its huge bulk, it moved quickly; but it was not as quick as Mew Pudding.

The thing raised its ugly head and its fangs spewed a stream of venom at the monkey-girl. Wherever the venom hit, things burned and withered: the venom was acidic as well as poisonous. But Pudding it did not touch; with sudden quickness she danced out of the way to her right. Then the thing reared up and brought down its two huge forelegs upon the girl in yellow.

The legs hit the ground with a crash, but again Pudding escaped, bouncing back and to her right. This was actually becoming fun to her! But more importantly, she had the thing completely distracted, and the other three would now be able to strike from the rear…

Then, suddenly, the super-chimera stopped moving. The crashing noise of destroyed objects and fallen trees ceased. It stood stock-still, as if waiting for something. It was clearly still alert, but would not move. Pudding wondered why, but could think of nothing. Then she realized: the monster was no longer distracted by her.

And in the silence, she heard voices: _"Lettuce Rush! Minto Echo! Zakuro spear!"_ She herself leaped again into the air to attack again, to make one more wild effort to distract the thing; but it was too late. The serpent's head that was its tail belched out a huge cloud of vile, poisonous gas that gave off an awful stench – not at Pudding, but at the three that were attacking from behind.

Zakuro's wolf-senses could smell something coming, and she dove for cover as best as she could. Lettuce saw the gas cloud – a vile green vapor – and threw up her Castanets to withstand the attack as best as she could. But Minto was exposed, up in the air, and when the gas engulfed her, she fell to the ground, hit hard, bounced, and lay in a heap. The thing breathed in to belch again, but Zakuro leaped out of her hiding place and seized the fallen Minto before it could. She lifted her friend's battered body, now all covered with black marks, and fled, bounding back through the woods. Lettuce, hurt and gasping from the gas that leaked through the inadequate defense of her Castanets, stumbled after them while the ugly green poison filled the air behind her.

And Pudding let fly another Pudding Ring; but it simply impaled itself of the thing's spines, and fizzled. Then she ran, too, heading back toward the Café.

There she found Ryou and Keiichiro, still fretting over their computer. Over her shoulder she saw Zakuro come out of the woods, no longer bounding, but panting heavily as she carried the broken Minto. And following them came Lettuce, limping, half-dragging herself across the ground. Her face, like Minto's, was all covered with black marks. She was clearly badly hurt.

Still, the girls gathered around Ryou and Keiichiro, and Zakuro laid Minto upon the ground. There they stood, gasping, their eyes filled with fear and desperation. Ryou looked over all of them, and said, "Well, what happened?"

"We did almost no damage," Zakuro muttered between breaths. "We hit it with Minto's arrow, my whip, and Lettuce's Rush, and all I think we did was break off a few of those defensive spines."

"The Pudding Ring Inferno did nothing to it," Pudding muttered in return.

Zakuro spoke again. "And we couldn't surprise it. It has a snake for its tail, so it has eyes in the back. It saw us coming. We didn't have a chance against that gas attack."

But Pudding said, quietly, "Pudding wonders if there's more. The monster was chasing Pudding, and Pudding was staying away really well. Then it stopped, and waited. Like it was waiting for you guys."

"It's as if the thing is intelligent!" Lettuce moaned.

But Ryou said, "No, not in itself. We've finally got some decent data to analyze on that thing. It's composed of three creatures, as you no doubt have noticed. But neither a spider nor a hedgehog nor a snake has intelligence to speak of. Its intelligence comes from how it's made." He shook his head angrily. "There are three parasite aliens involved, one for each of the three creatures that got united in the beast. I'm thinking that each of the three aliens infected one creature; but something had to provide the means of putting the whole thing together."

The girls looked at him, waiting and hoping that he had figured something out. And he went on, "I think it was the aliens themselves that put it all together. That is, they've put some of their own – _whatever_ – into it. That's where the intelligence comes from. And I think that's how they at least somewhat control it."

"What do you mean, their own…_ whatever?_" Lettuce demanded.

Ryou shrugged. "Part of their own spirits, or souls, or energy, or minds, or magic power, or whatever you want to call it," he said. "That's why their own signatures were weaker. Their energy is tied up in that thing."

"Then the weakness isn't in the super-chimera, it's in the aliens themselves!" Zakuro said.

"Then let's get 'em!" Lettuce declared. "We'll have to distract the thing, but we can't be obvious about it. Then suddenly we'll turn on those three damned aliens, and let them have it!"

Zakuro glanced at Lettuce from under her eyelids. The Lettuce of old would never have used foul language like that. But then, they were all desperate – and afraid. So she said, "We'll try to surround it, hit it from all sides. Keep your distance, don't let it hit you directly – with anything. We'll all work our way toward the back, and then suddenly turn on the aliens, and get them."

"One of you will still have to keep the thing distracted when the others go after the aliens," Keiichiro said.

"Pudding will do it again!" the monkey-girl said.

But Lettuce said, "No, Pudding. Your attacks don't affect it. It has to be someone that can hurt it, to keep it distracted. Once we have the aliens themselves under attack, they might have trouble controlling it, and if someone can hurt it, she might get it to chase the wrong person."

"Then I'll stay with it and keep it distracted," Zakuro said.

"No!" gasped a voice. And Mew Minto pushed herself up from the ground. "That will be my job."

"Minto, you can't go back in there! One more hit, and you'll… you'll - you'll be… toast," Zakuro objected.

Minto stood now, and shook her head. "I think I can still get airborne. That will let me keep my distance, and allow me to hurt it without it finishing me off."

"You hope," Keiichiro said. "If it doesn't work, you'll die."

"We lose this battle, we die anyway," Minto said. And then the others nodded.

"Then… Tokyo Mew Mew – go!" Ryou shouted. And the girls sped off again. In front of them there was a great noise. Trees were crashing as the horrible thing approached.

This time the girls spread out, moving swiftly in spite of their injuries. Minto did get airborne, and got up as high as she could, considering her injuries. She hoped she was high enough, as she looked down upon the aliens' horrid creation. It was truly ugly and terrible, beyond anything else Minto had ever seen. She was in pain, but she spun and chanted, _"Ribbon: Minto echo!"_ And she sent a magic arrow into the great beast.

She saw the flash when it hit, and the monster yowled, a frightening and ugly scream. Then it saw her, and raised its spider head. A stream of deadly, acidic venom sprayed up at the bird Mew, but it fell short; and the ground hissed and burned where it hit. Then the serpent head that was its tail reared up and belched its deadly breath; but there was wind up where Minto flew, above the trees, and the vile green cloud blew away on the wind. Minto smiled through her pain as she spun again and let fly the Minto Echo. Another hit! She was not damaging the thing much, but she was distracting it – unless it had still other attacks to throw against her.

Then the other girls attacked it from three sides, and the Lettuce Rush, Zakuro Spear, and Pudding Ring Inferno all hit. None seemed to do much damage, but the thing became far more enraged, if that were possible. Then Minto shot again, aiming carefully. She was good at what she did, and she hit the serpent head directly.

But that did not stop the super-chimera. Enraged, it belched another cloud, this one at Pudding; but that was a bad mistake. The Monkey-girl leaped up into a tree and then jumped higher into another, and the deadly gas spread out on the ground below her, leaving her untouched. And then another Zakuro Spear lashed it, and the beast screamed in rage.

And while all of this was happening, the three girls on the ground were working backwards, past the horrible monster and toward the aliens.

Lettuce got in range first. She was on the left, and Pai was the alien on her side. There was a time that she liked, even admired, the tall alien. But now she was filled only with anger, and she sent a Lettuce Rush attack at him.

The alien blocked it with his magical fan, and then, seeing what the Mew Mews were doing, he shouted, _"Kuu-Rai-Sen!"_ And his magical fan sent a powerful blast of air at the Mew in green.

But his attack was weaker than it would have been, since so much of his power was tied up in controlling the monster, and Lettuce deflected it with her Castanets. And again she struck at the adult alien with her Lettuce Rush.

And as she did so, little Pudding, far off to the right, spun her airborne somersault and chanted, _"Ribbon: Pudding Ring Inferno!"_ And she hurled it upon little Taruto; and the child alien, already weakened by the effort to maintain and control the super chimera, was engulfed by the magical pudding, and crashed to the ground.

Mew Zakuro saw this. She saw the child alien helpless, and she struck without mercy; _"Ribbon: Zakuro Spear!"_ The alien brat couldn't defend himself while engulfed by the pudding, and she lashed him with everything she had. The alien's body flew through the air, and bounced, and lay still upon the ground. His bolo-toy lay beside him, as still as he was.

Kisshu, the middle alien, saw it happen, and he crossed his _Sai _daggers and fired a lightning bolt at Zakuro. But the wolf-girl met the attack with her magical whip, and broke it. Then the alien crossed his daggers again, and fired; but not at Zakuro.

For little Pudding had seen Taruto fall; and with a pained shout of "Taru-Taru!" she ran to him. She knelt beside him and shook him. "Taru-Taru! Are you all right? Say something!" Tears were pouring from her eyes.

She was defenseless, and Kisshu's lightning bolt blasted her with as much power as the evil alien could generate. She exploded into the air, and then bounced along the ground, where she lay broken and still. And the alien smirked; but Zakuro saw that, and let fly the Zakuro Spear. Yet the alien blocked it again.

And just then there was a great roar behind the Mew Mews, and the super-chimera came crashing out of the woods. For Minto had been too weak to start with, and she had expended far too much magic energy in her attacks on the monster. She started losing altitude, and maybe she should have withdrawn. But she kept up her attacks, though each Minto Echo drained more of her dwindling energy supply. Lower and lower she fluttered, and then the beast spit venom one more time. And this time some of the acidic poison reached her.

The pain of the magic burning was worse than anything Minto had ever felt, and she crashed to the ground again. It should have been the end of Minto, for she lay completely helpless; but just then the aliens regained control of their magical monster and turned it back upon the other three Mew Mews. So Minto lay there in the dirt, and then finally crawled away. She had done her best, but that had not nearly been good enough.

And the monster fell on the rear of the two still-standing Mew Mews. Zakuro turned and lashed it with her Zakuro Spear, but that opened her up to an attack by Kisshu, and she was barely able to dodge that. Then she watched in horror as the horrible thing's great forelegs raised up and came crashing down on Mew Lettuce. Lettuce tried to dodge, but she took a hit, and her body flew into the woods.

For a second Zakuro looked around. She was the last Mew standing, and that would not be for long. It was all she could do to fight off the attacks of Pai and Kisshu, and now that thing was coming up behind her. She suddenly raced forward, scooped up the fallen Pudding, and ran into the woods. The great monster pursued her in wrath, and sent out a long stream of acid venom; but she outpaced it through the trees.

And a few minutes later she came upon the fallen Minto, trying to drag herself through the bushes back toward the Café. Though she was strong in her wolf transformation, Zakuro was exhausted; but in her desperation she found strength that she did not know she had. She threw Pudding's body over her left shoulder, and grabbed Minto by the back of her Mew Mew dress; and she dragged them both away. She was staggering weakly by the time she made it back to the guys; but she brought both of the smaller Mew Mews out. Then she collapsed and lay helplessly on the ground, gasping for breath.

Keiichiro ran to the three fallen girls to see which ones, if any, lived. Zakuro was clearly breathing, and he left her there. Minto was badly hurt, burned by the acid venom, and all covered with black marks; but she was alive. But poor Pudding was hurt the worst of all. She was burned and broken, and blood streamed from a gash on her head. Her left eye was damaged and closed. But Keiichiro embraced her, and begged: "Pudding-san! Don't die! Say something!"

The child's eyes didn't open, but a few words did escape her lips. "Taru… Taru…" Then she lapsed into silence.

And finally, out of the woods to their left, one last figure emerged. Mew Lettuce, battered and crushed, staggered out, fell, struggled to her feet again, fell again. Yet she was coming. She made it back to the guys before collapsing on the ground next to Zakuro.

There they lay, utterly defeated, gasping for breath. Pudding was hardly breathing at all. Magical girls are notoriously hard to kill, but Pudding was about as close to death as one could be, and still be clinging to life. They had put a tremendous struggle, but they had been matched against an enemy too powerful for them. And now it would all end.

An awful crashing sound was coming closer through the woods, and Ryou and Keiichiro began to see trees falling. Then, suddenly, it burst out of the woods, looking like a nightmare from the depths of hell. The two guys looked at each other. They knew: this was the end.


	8. Yes, Grace

**Chapter 8**

**Grace**

Zakuro began to rise, struggling to her feet. She was still gasping for air, completely exhausted, but she could at least stand. Then Lettuce raised her head weakly, and stared at the monstrous thing that now approached them. Tears began dripping from her eyes. She knew death was coming. The battered Minto rolled herself over to see the thing, and then somehow painfully got herself to her knees. And even little Pudding now opened her one good eye and saw the chimera anima. Then she closed that eye and waited for the end.

"We've got to get them out of here!" Keiichiro said. "We'll have to carry them back to the Café. After that, we'll use the car to get away what we can."

But Zakuro said, "We'll never even make it back to the Café, carrying the hurt girls."

"But we have to try!" Ryou said. "Keiichiro, you and I can each carry one of the hurt girls. Zakuro, can you make it by yourself?"

"I…" the wolf-girl gasped. "I will take Pudding. I'll make it somehow."

"You'll never make it." The voice came from the ground, and they looked down. The horribly wounded and battered Mew Lettuce was somehow struggling to rise. "It'll be on you long before… before you even make it to the Café." She looked down, gasping. "Someone… someone…" She looked up again. They could tell the monster had seen them. And then, with complete resignation, she said: "Someone has to slow it down."

Where she found the strength to do it, no one could guess, but the green-haired girl got to her knees. "I'll – I'll slow it down. The rest of you…" She gasped painfully several more times. "The rest of you… get out of here, get to the… Café, and jump in the car, and run. Go!"

"I'll go with you," Zakuro said. "You can't do anything in your condition."

But the battered Lettuce shook her head. "No. There's no reason for both of us to die. I… I'm the leader now, and this… is my duty, just as it was Ich… that other girl's duty to face Deep Blue." And she tried to get to her feet; but she fell back to her knee.

"Lettuce, don't go!" Ryou tried to command her.

But the girl in green gasped, "Shirogane Ryou, I gotta do this. And if you think you can stop me – well, you can just kiss my… butt." There was still a bit of the old Lettuce left in her, enough to keep her away from the more vulgar term.

And then she forced herself to her feet. She nearly fell, but she steadied herself. Then she gasped the words, _"Lettuce… Castanets!"_ And they appeared in her hands. And then, weakly, unsteadily, she began limping and staggering toward the monster. She fell once, but got right up, and kept going, somehow… going forth to die.

Keiichiro looked at the others. Minto was on her knees, and her tears were flowing freely. Minto didn't cry easily; she usually to hid her emotions, except for contempt, and her infatuation with Zakuro. And she tried to hide the latter. But she wept openly, now, as Lettuce slowly approached her death.

Pudding wept, too, though she could not get up from the ground where she lay on her belly. Her left eye was closed by her wound, but her right eye poured out what tears she had. And a tear even leaked out from the bloody, wounded, closed left eye, as she wept for her friend.

Even Ryou had tears dripping from his cheeks. Keiichiro hadn't seen such a display since Ryou's parents had perished at the hands of the aliens and their evil chimera animas. And Keiichiro wondered: Lettuce had once crushed on Ryou, but he had spurned her. If he had accepted that love back then, would things have come to this? Keiichiro of course did not know. But Ryou wept for Lettuce now.

And tears flowed down Keiichiro's cheeks, too. They were all weeping – all but one. Zakuro stood watching it all with her jaw set, and her eyes were as hard as dark stones. She was blaming Lettuce for this, Keiichiro knew. Lettuce had driven away Ichigo, and now was paying the price for what she had done. Keiichiro wept another tear over this. He had known Zakuro long, but had no idea she could be _this_ hard.

The monster saw Lettuce coming, and began bounding forward to attack her, leaping with its multiple legs. It was completely out of the woods now, and they could fully see how huge, and how loathsome, the thing truly was. Then, suddenly, it stopped; stopped and waited. The Mews and their allies could see two aliens in the air behind it: Pai and Kisshu were there. Taruto was not. He was still down somewhere, and maybe dead. But the other two must have stopped the super-chimera. And Keiichiro thought: At least the girls' tactics that had failed had got the aliens to suspect some kind of trap or ambush. They would make Lettuce come to them; and this would give the Mew Mews the time they needed to escape.

"Hey, we should go!" he said. But he did not want to go; and the others did not move. Keiichiro urged them again, "Come on! This is our last chance!" But none of them would budge. If they did not use the time to escape, then Lettuce's sacrifice would be in vain. But they all stayed still, their eyes transfixed on the horror story unfolding before them, as their friend went down to die.

And she kept going forward, somehow. She looked so small, now, one little bit of green against the looming blackness, one last bit of light set before the darkness of hell. Then the monster reared up, and its fangs spewed its deadly acid venom. But somehow the battered Lettuce found the strength, and she leaped to her right, and the poisonous blast missed her. She fell hard when her feet hit the ground, though. And yet, before the monster could attack again, she was up, and somehow, spinning in the air, and her sad, weak voice came over the field: _"Ribbon! Lettuce Rush!" _She sent it full into the monster's spider-face. And then again, and again: _"Lettuce Rush! Lettuce Rush!"_

But her attack could not bring the monster down, and it reared far up, and struck, not with two legs, but with four. Lettuce jumped to her left, and the first leg missed; but not the second. It struck the hero-girl hard, and she crashed to the ground, bounced, and lay still. She did not get up.

With one leap the thing was over her, and for a second, it paused. It was gloating, they all realized. It would now kill Lettuce, if she were not already dead. And it would devour her. There would not even be a body left for her parents to mourn over. She lay helpless, dead or dying, and there was not a thing any of the Mew Mews could do about it.

But then something dashed by them, bounding like a cat on the run, something all in pink, pink mini-dress bouncing with each leaping stride, pink hair and black cat-tail streaming behind. The monstrous horror saw it coming, and turned to it, and reared up. But it kept running, and now it leaped into the air, spinning, with magical colored sparkles falling all around it. Then they heard the voice chant words of power, and that chant echoed across that field of death and destruction: _"Ribbon: Strawberry Surprise!"_ And the girl held her Strawberry Bell before her, and descended full into the face of the monster from hell, while a scintillating blast of light streamed from the Bell into the thing's horrid face, second after second.

The monster reared back, writhing in its miserable hellish agony, its four forward legs beating the air. And its alien voice shrieked a curse: a curse beyond words, but clearly from the depths of hell. And then the super-chimera exploded! It was no ordinary chimera anima, which would simply yield up its parasite alien and return to the creature it had been. It was truly a monster of evil, held together by dark magical energy that the aliens had woven; and when it all broke down, that energy was released in a massive catastrophe. The monster disappeared in a huge ball of magical fire and smoke and noise, a ball that grew and engulfed the pink girl in the air and the green girl on the ground. The explosion hurled the two aliens far back, and they disappeared over the trees. And still the explosion grew, and the three parasite aliens that had made three simple creatures into a monster were incinerated as they flew free.

They were all weeping, now. Before them, where there had been a beautiful grove of trees and a park, was a roaring ball of magical fire. And in that fire two of their friends had been lost. Keiichiro noted that even Zakuro was crying, tears streaming unchecked from her eyes after what they had seen.

Then suddenly Zakuro left, on the run. It was a weak run, off to their right, but she kept going. Both of the guys called after her – the girls were too weak – but she paid no heed. Quickly she disappeared into the trees to the right of the magical fireball, and was gone.

Magical burning made a strange sound. It roared like a natural fire, but somehow, there was more music in it. And they knew what that music was: the funeral dirge of Lettuce and Ichigo. They all just stayed where they were and watched it burn, and still they wept. They had won their battle; and perhaps, given the amount of power the aliens had lost making their monster from hell, they would not be able to make another. And Keiichiro turned to Ryou, and muttered, "You know, maybe we should have just let them have the Mew Aqua." Ryou looked at him, but said nothing as he wept.

And then, before them, something moved, coming through the edge of the magical fire, a figure walking out of the flames. Silhouetted against the flames appeared a girl, walking out of the fire. They could see her cat ears and tail, black against the bright magical blaze. And in her arms she carried something – the body of Mew Lettuce.

The girl walked slowly, painfully, but she kept coming. She came out of the fire and stepped toward them. They were all silent, but then little Pudding managed a word: "Ich… igo..."

The girl in pink came up in silence. Her tail and ears were burned, and the black marks of injury were all over her face and body; and her pink minidress was torn. The ribbon on her tail was torn and loose, hanging by one battered knot. Yet still she came, in silence.

"Ichigo!" Minto gasped. And the guys also blurted out the name: "Mew Ichigo!"

But she said nothing. She looked over them all, maybe wondering where Zakuro was, maybe fearing that she had not survived the battle. But she did not ask. In silence she laid Lettuce's burned and broken body on the ground at the guys' feet. Then she bowed to them, and kept walking. They all called after her, but she did not look back. And once again, they all wept.

Ryou knelt beside the fallen Lettuce. Her former beauty was gone, now, all was torn and burned. His tears fell upon her face; and then he noticed: she breathed.

"Hey! She's still alive!" he gasped.

Keiichiro knelt next to him, and touched her cheek. And then, as if by a miracle, the girl's green eyes opened a little; and she spoke. "How?" she whispered. "How can she be… so… damned… noble? How?"

"Lettuce! You're alive! We'll get you to the hospital! We'll get you through this!" Ryou said.

The girl struggled to breathe, and then she whispered again. "No… hospital. Magical injury... magical healing. Ask… Zakuro… san."

They did not understand what she meant, nor did they tell her that Zakuro had run away. Then Keiichiro spoke, though he knew he should not ask the question at that time: "How did you ever survive that explosion? Everything out there was destroyed!"

The battered girl struggled to take another breath, though every breath clearly pained her. And then she managed another weak whisper. "She… pro… tected me with…" Another shallow breath came painfully. "With… the Straw… berry… bell. So _damned_ noble…"

And then she closed her eyes.

They could hear sirens in the distance, coming fast; the monster's magical explosion had started some very real fires. Ryou and Keiichiro were getting ready to lift Lettuce to carry her back to the Café when Mew Zakuro emerged from the woods. She, too, was carrying something: another body, a small one. She laid the body next to the fallen Pudding and quietly nudged her.

"Pudding, I brought something for you," she said in the softest voice they had ever heard Zakuro use.

And Pudding forced open her one good eye; and when it focused, a smile crossed her battered face. "Taru… Taru!" she gasped.

Mew Zakuro turned to the guys. "He's still alive," she said softly. "If he lives, he'll be a bargaining chip for us, if the aliens come back for more." Then she looked down at the broken thing that had been Mew Lettuce. "How did you get that body?" she asked.

"She's alive, Zakuro-san," Ryou said quietly. "Ichigo saved her."

For a second surprise shot through Zakuro's dark sapphire eyes, before she mastered herself. Then tears began pouring from her eyes again, but she could not master those. "Then… Ichigo… made it?" she asked incredulously.

Ryou nodded.

Zakuro shook her head, slowly. "Grace," she said.

"What do you mean… 'grace?'" Ryou asked; but Zakuro said nothing.

The wolf girl looked up from Lettuce and stared at the guys. "What did she say?"

But Ryou shook his head. "Not a word," he said. "I think she still hates us."

Zakuro shook her head, but made no comment.

And finally Keiichiro asked, "Mew Zakuro, we were going to take Lettuce to the hospital, but she said no, that magical injury needed magical healing. We didn't understand what she meant. She told us to ask you." He waited, but the wolf-girl made no response; so he asked openly, "Well? Do you know what she meant?"

Zakuro nodded, sadly. "It… will cost you some Mew Aqua," she said.


	9. Lies

**Chapter 9**

**Lies**

Ichigo lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Why had she gone? She had felt the summons, heard Keiichiro's call through her pendant. But she had not gone, then. She had left the Café, quit the Mew Mews. They did not need her; they had Lettuce. But she still cared for those people. She hated Lettuce, who had hurt her so. But even that meant that she still cared about her. You had to care before you could hate. And she did care about the rest of them. She missed the guys, even Ryou's sarcasm and teasing. She missed Pudding's smile, and Zakuro's mysterious wisdom. She missed Minto and her arrogance perhaps less than she missed the others; but even Minto was worth going for. They had been through so much together!

And so, she had transformed, and she had gone. And when she got there she had seen that horrible thing, and the aliens in the air behind it. Just two of them; she wondered if Taruto had not come, or if he were somewhere else, or if he had fallen in the battle. She didn't care. She had seen her friends – she could not but think of them as her friends, except for Lettuce – beaten, injured, and helpless on the ground. She hadn't known if she could stop that thing. She hadn't even considered it. Then she had seen Lettuce, fighting that thing alone. She had seen Lettuce fall… and she had gone after the monster with everything she had in her mind, heart, and body.

Why? she asked herself. That thing would have killed Lettuce, given that whore what she deserved. If Lettuce died, then Aoyama-kun would have come back to her. Ichigo was sure of it! But then she shook her head, still staring at the ceiling. She could not have lived with herself if she had allowed Lettuce to die. She was such a fool, but that was the way she was. Of course, maybe Lettuce had died anyway. She had thought the whore was still alive, barely, when she had brought her out of that explosion. But she was near death, and maybe she hadn't survived; and maybe, then, Aoyama-kun would come back. But no, she did not want Lettuce to die. Ichigo hated her, but she did not want her to die.

And then, she heard a sound at the window. It could not be – could it? She got off of the bed, and walked to the window, and opened it. And there, sitting in the tree and smirking, was the alien, Kisshu.

"Hi, Kitten!" the alien chortled. "Mind if I come in?" And as usual, he did not wait for an answer, but instead flew to the open window and slipped in.

Ichigo backed off from him. Her tongue seemed tied, and she began breathing heavily. Her right hand reached for the pendant she wore around her neck.

Kisshu frowned. "You didn't forget that this was our big night, did you? I would have thought you'd be wearing something more… _comfortable."_ Ichigo was dressed as she usually was, with a gray skirt and pale sweater.

She backed away from the alien, trembling. She had not said a word to him. She did not know what to say. She backed away as she had that first evening Kisshu had come, until her calves were against the bed and she could back no more. She was cornered there, and Kisshu strode up to her and reached out to embrace her.

But as his right hand touched her shoulder, her left hand slapped it away. "Don't… touch… me!" she gasped, her dark violet-gray eyes wild.

A bit of anger flashed through the alien's golden eyes, but he quickly mastered himself. "Afraid, kitten?" he asked. Then he added, soothingly: "Don't worry. It'll be the most wonderful moment of your life!" He reached out again, touching her breast.

She slapped his hand violently this time. "I said, don't touch me! You filth!" she half-shrieked.

Now some real anger rose in those Kisshu's golden cat's eyes. "Kitten, are you forgetting something? You promised me that this night you would be mine!"

Ichigo was gasping for breath in her fear and anger. "What? After today, after what that thing did to us, after you made war on us, you think that now I'll make love to you?"

The alien shrugged, then smirked. "That was politics. This is us, OK?"

Ichigo's eyes were huge, and she stared at him with total disbelief. "You lied to me! Lied! You said you came back just for me! That was a lie! You came back to make war again! You lied, Kisshu! Lied!"

Again the alien shrugged, and then smirked openly, showing his fangs. "Well, all's fair in love and war, as they say." Then the smirk left his face, and he put on his most charming smile. "Now, you owe me this. You promised! Let's get on with it, and after you know what I can do, you'll never even think of that stupid fool of a boy-child again!"

But Ichigo pointed her finger into his face, and gasped through gritted teeth, "Don't you touch me!"

"Too late for that, kitten," Kisshu said, and the smirk returned to his face. "If you think you can get away without giving what you promised, you're a bigger fool than he is." And then suddenly he seized her with great strength, threw her down on the bed, and leaped upon her, his lips engulfing hers and his hands tearing the sweater from her body.

He was brutally strong, and her strength was no match for his. But she was half a wildcat, and a born fighter besides. He forced his tongue into her mouth, and she bit it, hard. She tasted alien blood – an ugly taste. He pulled the tongue back, and she pulled her mouth free from his, and bit his long left ear, even harder.

That drew more blood, and the alien screeched as he pulled his head away. Her fingers raked at his eyes, and she somehow squirmed out from under him and got to her feet beside the bed.

And Kisshu stood there a few feet from her, gasping, his eyes glaring, blood dripping from his ear. "You stinking whore, now you're MINE!" he screeched.

But as he began to leap upon her again, she kicked him, hard, full in the groin.

He staggered back and fell to his knees in agony.

And in the few seconds she had before he could get up, she kissed her pendant, and chanted, "Mew Mew Strawberry… _Metamorpho…SIS!"_ And she began spinning in the air as she transformed into Mew Ichigo.

But Kisshu was beside himself in anger, and he had no fear at all of the Mew Mew. He reached out, and his deadly _sai_ daggers appeared in his hands. "You'll pay for that, you _[f-bombing]_ slut!" he shrieked at the top of his voice.

Ichigo began to chant: _"Ribbon: Strawberry…"_

But she did not complete the chant, because the door to the room flew open, and Ichigo's mother Sakura came charging though. "What's going on up here…?" she began; and then she stopped.

She thought her daughter was having some troubles with somebody, though she had seen no one else in the house. What she saw in the room was like nothing she could have ever imagined. Up against the ceiling above the bed a pink-haired, pink-eyed girl in a pink minidress – a girl with a cat's tail and ears, with a red bow on the tail, no less – a girl with some strange heart-shaped thing with a bell in it in her hand – was spinning in the air, surrounded by strange colored sparkles and spirals. On the floor near to her left hand was a strangely-clad, green-haired man – apparently – with long extended ears and strange golden eyes, and long daggers in his hands. And Momomiya Sakura stood, transfixed to the floor, and blurted out, _"What the HELL is going on here?"_

And Kisshu, as quick as the cat he was fighting, jumped behind the older woman and seized her, pressing his daggers against her throat. "Stop, whore!" he barked. "Stop, or she dies!"

And Ichigo stopped spinning and hung there in the air, her body charged and overcharged with magical power, her face a twisted mask of indecision and fear.

"That's better," the alien said, smirking yet again. "Now, here's the deal. You get down and lose the transformation, and you keep your promise, or she gets it. I'll gut her and let her die real slowly! Well, I'll gut her after… after I enjoy her a bit." And the _sai_ dagger disappeared from his left hand, though not from his right; and his left hand grabbed the woman's breast.

"No!" Ichigo gasped. "Look, you can have me, all of me, and then go! I promise! You can have all you want! You can kill me if you want! But you have to let my Mom go! I won't release the transformation until you let her go! But if you hurt her – even one little scratch – I'll fry you so hard it'll take a week to scrape the grease spot off the floor, because that's all that'll be left of you."

"I get all of you? Really?" the alien asked, in a low, ugly voice.

Ichigo, half-exploding from the pent-up magical energy bound up within her from her half-completed spell, gasped: "Yes! All you want! But you have to let her go! Now!"

And the ugliest smirk Ichigo had ever seen passed across the alien's face, and he said, "OK! Deal!" And then he laid a savage kiss on Sakura, before he roughly pushed her away towards the bed. And then he opened his arms, and said: "Come on, kitten. Let's get it on."

And Ichigo said: _"Surprise!"_

And all of the pent-up magical energy, driven by all of her fear and all of her rage, poured from her Strawberry Bell and engulfed the now-defenseless alien, half-ripping him to pieces as it smashed him against the wall of the room.

Then Ichigo, still seething with anger, settled to the floor of the room. "Are you OK, Mom?" she asked; and her mother nodded, though her eyes were huge with fear.

Then she drew out her cell phone – even magical transformation cannot separate a teenaged girl from her cell phone – and pushed a button. After a second, she said into the phone: "Ryou? It's Ichigo. Can you guys come to my house? I just caught you a Kisshu." Then she listened for a second before snapping the phone shut.

"They'll be here in less than half an hour," she said to her mother. "Are you sure you're OK?"

And Momomiya Sakura said, with a trembling voice, "Yes, I'm OK. But you have a lot of explaining to do, if you really are Ichigo – I don't recall my daughter having a tail."

"I guess I'll explain it all to you, now, Mom," the girl said. "But first…"

She walked over to the fallen alien, who lay in a heap against the wall. She picked up the _sai_ daggers, and then said, "And you said you loved me! You lying bastard!"

The alien was somehow conscious, and he gasped, "And you said that if I let her go, I could have you!"

"I lied," Ichigo said. Then she kicked him in the groin again, hard. And as he gasped once again in agony, she said in a low, horribly hard voice: "Don't you… EVER… touch my mother again!"

And Sakura stepped up behind Ichigo, and put her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "So that's an alien, is it? Are they all so evil?" Ichigo said nothing, and for a few seconds there was silence. And then Sakura said, "He is kinda hot, though."

And Ichigo stared at her mother with huge eyes full of shock, and gasped, "Oh, Mom!"


	10. Hell

**Chapter 10**

**Hell**

The doorbell rang again, and Lettuce tried to hurry herself to answer it. She was moving very slowly, actually having trouble moving at all. Her parents were gone; she would have gone with them, but she had told them that she was ill. So she was alone. Perhaps she could have just ignored the doorbell, but, after all, she was Lettuce still. And so she would do her best to be a good hostess. Slowly, painfully, she reached the door, and opened it.

There on the threshold stood Aoyama Masaya. She had thought it might be Masaya; she had feared it might be him. Now he stood there, and she did not know what to say; and so she mumbled, "Masaya… san…"

He looked her over, her eyes filled with concern. "Lettuce-chan!" he said, quietly but earnestly.

She did not respond to her name, so he went on, "Ah…may I come in?"

Lettuce mumbled again. "I don't know… I'm not supposed to have boys over when my parents are gone." She looked down, and then stepped back, inviting him in with her eyes as much as anything.

He stepped through the door and she closed it behind him. Then she took a step back; she was very much uneasy. He looked at her, and then, reached out to take her into his arms.

But she stepped back again. "Don't touch me!" she gasped, her voice tortured.

He stopped, mystified. Then he reached for her again.

And again she said, with a much stronger voice: "I said, don't touch me!"

He shook his head. "What have I done? Why are you angry at me? I thought… I thought we loved each other!'

The green-haired girl kept backing away from him. Her eyes were huge with what seemed to be fear, though Masaya could not comprehend what she was afraid of. Then she backed against the far wall of the room, and with no more space to back up, she turned away from him and faced the wall.

"Lettuce!" he said, his voice pleading. "How have I hurt you? What have I done? What have I said?"

"Nothing," she half-whispered to the wall. "You've done nothing."

"Then why do you hate me? Or why are you afraid of me? Or… why are you acting like that?" His voice twisted in pain.

"Oh, Masaya… kun…" she gasped. "Masaya, don't you understand? Don't you see what you do to me, now, when you touch me? After what happened today?"

"But Lettuce!" he protested. "I didn't know what happened, 'till long after it was over! If you'd have called me, I'd have come! You know that!"

"Come?" she answered. "Come, and done what? You would have died, quickly. You couldn't have transformed. You can't, except to protect… _her!"_

"You could have given me a chance! Maybe I could have transformed," the boy said. He took a step toward the girl, who was still huddled against the far wall with her back to him.

But she answered, gasping: "No. No, I wouldn't call you out to die." She gasped, hard, several times. "It was horrible out there, that thing was so terrible, so powerful! It defeated us all, and it smashed me. I was a breath from dying! I would have died, except for Zakuro…" Her voice trailed off.

"What do you mean? What did Zakuro do?" he asked.

"Zakuro…" Lettuce gasped in return. "She… she can do a kind of magical healing, I guess you would call it. If she can use some Mew Aqua, she can heal. I don't really understand it – but she saved me. And also Pudding and the kid alien, too."

"Then I thank Zakuro for her goodness," the dark-haired boy said thoughtfully. "But I still would want to be there. I love you, Lettuce. I want to be there with you, be there for you."

Lettuce lapsed into silence, and he drew closer to her; and he reached out.

"Don't touch me!" she squealed.

"Why not, Lettuce? I love you! And I want to comfort you! You're hurt, hurt really badly." And he reached closer.

"I said, don't touch me!" she shouted painfully; and his hand stopped.

She gasped loudly several times again; and then, with tears flowing, she choked out the words: "You touch me – it would torture me!"

"Torture you? Why?" he cried.

"Why? Why?" she choked on the words. "Because of… because of _her._"

He was incredulous. "Her? You mean…"

"Yes!" she gasped. "Her! Don't you see? She's so _d__amned_ noble!" Several more choking breaths followed before she could speak again. "I destroyed her life, and she saved mine! I… I stole her boyfriend, broke her heart, and she came to my rescue!" She was shaking, gasping, completely helpless as the tears poured down. "I smashed her, and she smashed the chimera! I…" The words gurgled in her tight throat. "I crushed her to the ground, and stood there, and planted my foot on her and gloated over her, and she stood over me with that Strawberry Bell and held off that explosion to protect me! I left her there on the field, beaten, left her for dead – and she carried me out of the fire!"

Finally, she turned from the wall and faced him, though she was unsteady on her feet, swaying, nearly falling. "I thought I proved myself better, that somehow I deserved your love. What a damned fool I am…" She collapsed, and he caught her, and held her up, embracing her against his body. "Don't touch me…" she gasped in a fading half whisper.

"Then break away from me," he said quietly; but of course she could not.

He held her long, while she gasped and shook in agony. Finally, she began to grow more quiet, or least less agitated; and he whispered, "Then you're really breaking up with me?"

She opened her tear-filled eyes, and looked into his, and nodded. "Masaya-kun, to even see you fills me with so much shame, so much guilt, I can't stand it. Every time I see you, it will be the same - shame, guilt, pain. And to have you touch me – it's… it's sheer hell."

"I understand," he whispered; and he took her over to the sofa on the side of the room to the right of the entrance door. There, he kissed her, with great tenderness; long and deeply he kissed her. Then he laid her upon the sofa, and turned to leave.

But she spoke, one more time. "Masaya, do you love me?"

He stopped, but did not turn back to her, for tears were pouring from his eyes, and his voice was choked as much as hers. "Lettuce-chan, you know… you know I love you."

"Masaya, if you love me, you must do one more thing."

Now her turned back, and spoke through his tears. "And what is that?"

"You must… you must go back to her. I can't heal the hurt I've done to her. You can," the girl said.

But the boy said, "She hates me. I hurt her a thousand times more than you did."

And the sobbing Lettuce shook her head. "What I told you once was true: you had the right to leave her, though it hurt her dearly, as long as you were honest about it. I was the one that was cruel to her, I was the one that betrayed a friendship, I was the one who forced her to fight me, I was the one who smashed her and all but killed her and gloated over her and left her and… and Masaya, she saved my life."

He thought long before he spoke again. "Then you would have me feel the shame you feel, if she is as noble to me as she was to you?"

Lettuce, still lying on the sofa, pushed herself up on her right elbow. "Yes, my… love. If she saved me… she may accept you back."

"But she will never trust me again," he muttered.

"She saved me, Masaya," Lettuce said. "I can't be sure she will accept you, or trust you, or love you again. But she will not hurt you."

"Thank you, my love," the boy said. "For your sake, I will speak to her." And he bowed to her, and walked to the door. And then he turned back. "Lettuce – you are smarter than she is, and more interesting to talk to. You knew that, of course; but something else: you're a lot better kisser than she is. And you're a lot sexier, and you can be proud of that." He sighed deeply, and then a tiny smile appeared on his face, though his eyes still streamed tears. "You know, we all knew that for a long time the one you really wanted was Shirogane. Listen, love: if you turn it on him like you turned it on me, you'll melt him like butter in a hot fry pan. Just watch out for your virtue, because he's older… But there's no way he resists you. No way."

Lettuce responded, "But I'm not good enough…"

"Lettuce, you're good enough for anyone," Masaya said. Then he turned back to the door. "Good-by… my love."

And Lettuce, through her tears, gasped, "Thank you… my…" But before she could say more, he opened the door, passed through it, and was gone.


	11. Hope

**Chapter 11**

**Hope**

Lettuce watched the girl standing upon that bridge, the warm evening sun dancing on her red hair. She hadn't seemed to notice Lettuce; she was lost in her thoughts, apparently. The girl leaned against the railing of the bridge and stared off into the distance, toward the south.

Lettuce hesitated. She was afraid. She had faced monsters and aliens and Deep Blue himself. She had walked down alone to face the super chimera, sure that she would die. But this was different. To face this girl - to face her own shame – was almost more than she could do. But she was Lettuce; and she knew she had to do this. So she took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and went forward, one slow, hesitating step at a time.

At first she could not speak. She just came up alongside the girl, on the girl's right side, and leaned against the stone rail as well. The girl looked at her, but she did not meet the girl's eyes. And the girl said, quietly: "Midorikawa-san."

Lettuce still could not look at her. She stared into the distance to the south, and mumbled, "Momomiya-san." It was all so very formal and quiet. No one who watched them would have any clue that the two girls hated each other.

The other girl turned away, and again stared into the south. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Lettuce bit her lip, and then said, quietly, "I need… I need to thank you for… saving my life." She stared at the water below and would not look at the red-haired girl.

The girl took a long time to respond. Then, she said quietly, "You're welcome – I guess." She said no more, letting Lettuce squirm.

And so Lettuce finally had to ask her, "Why? Why did you do it? You… hate me…" Her voice trailed off.

Again Ichigo was silent for a while. Then, staring off to the south, she said, "I had to stop that thing. I had to save Tokyo, save the world. I had no choice."

Lettuce turned her head and looked at her rival. "No. You didn't just destroy that – that thing. When it exploded, you stood there over me, and protected me with your Strawberry Bell. You could have saved yourself, but you stood there, and took the blast head-on, and saved me."

The red-haired girl still would not look at her. "You would have done the same for me, or for any of the girls. We all would have done it – even Minto, I think."

"There's a difference." Lettuce paused, and finally the other girl looked at her. "I have no reason to hate you. Nor does Minto, or any of the rest. But it's different for you. You have every reason to hate me. I ruined your life, took your boyfriend. And then I picked a fight with you, and hurt you so bad I almost killed you."

Anger flashed in the other girl's dark, violet-gray eyes. "Don't you keep rubbing my nose in it!"

But Lettuce shook her head. "I ruined your life, betrayed our friendship, broke your heart. I gloated over you, and then turned and walked away, thinking I had proved I was better, that I was worthy of his love." She reached out and touched the other girl's shoulder. "What a fool I am! I ruined your life, and you saved mine! I stood over you and gloated, and you stood over me and protected me! I walked away and left you beaten on the ground, and you picked me up and carried me out of the fire!" She repeated the same doleful litany she had told to Masaya. "Here I thought I had proven myself better than you, more worthy of him. But I'm… I'm worthless next to you. Next to you, I'm so small, so petty, so vindictive, so…" Her voice choked and trailed off, and tears filled her eyes.

Perhaps Lettuce expected the other girl to deny all of the put-downs she had heaped on herself, but Ichigo did nothing of the kind. She simply stared off into the distance toward the south. The shadows had become very long as the sun moved toward its setting. Then she spoke, quietly, slowly, as if speaking to herself as much anyone. "He… came back to me, you know. Or at least he tried." Then she turned to Lettuce. "He said… you dumped him."

Lettuce nodded. "Yes. I… dumped him."

Ichigo paused for several long seconds before continuing, "Why? Why be such a fool?"

Now it was Lettuce's turn to turn away and stare into the distance. "Because… because I can't stand to be with him. Now he just reminds me of… of what I did to you, and what you did for me, and how I'm so worthless, so unworthy of him. He reminds me of the evil I did, when I hurt you. I feel such… _shame_ when I am near him. His touch makes me feel so filthy…"

Once again anger rose in Ichigo's eyes. "There's… _nothing_ filthy about Aoyama-kun!"

Lettuce closed her eyes. "Of course there isn't! I'm the filthy one! I'm the one who did all of the evil! He just… reminds me of the filth that I am! It reminds me of what I did to you, whenever I so much as see him…." Her voice trailed off again.

Ichigo did not respond to this, but stared off again into the distance. She seemed to have nothing more to say, so Lettuce asked, "Did you take him back?"

Ichigo turned again to her rival and her mouth twisted as she spoke. "I shouldn't. He'll just hurt me again, when he finds some other bimbo that pleases him."

Lettuce cringed at the words "some other bimbo," but Ichigo ignored her distress and went on. "But I can't let go of him. I love him, and I can't seem to stop loving him. And at least he will be honest with me, not like… not like that bastard Kisshu."

"The alien?" Lettuce gasped. "When…?"

"For a week before the battle, he was coming to see me, pretending to comfort me, saying that he was the only one that really loved me. And I believed all of it! But all he really wanted was to… to.. ah, you know, get me, ah…, into, ah… um… bed…, you know…" She turned away from the girl in green and stared again into the distance. "He got me to promise that Saturday night I would let him… you know…"

Lettuce gasped but said nothing. Ichigo ignored the gasp, and continued, "And then he came, after that battle where we all almost died, and tried to force me to… you know…" She looked down, and then shut her eyes, as if in pain. "Can you imagine? After trying to kill us, he thought that I would let him… you know…" Her eyes were closed very tightly, and she gritted her teeth. "We were fighting in my bedroom, and my Mom came up, and he attacked her and threatened her with those daggers of his. I promised he could have me, if he let Mom go, but I lied, just like he did. The fool let Mom go, and I fried him with the Strawberry Surprise."

The she opened her eyes and slowly looked at Lettuce. "If he comes back and any way hurts or threatens my Mom again, I swear, I'll kill him."

Lettuce shook her head. She was thinking of what she would do, if one of the aliens or the monsters they spawned would hurt her family.

Once again Ichigo turned back to the south and stared into the distance. And finally she said, "We're going to fight again, you know. There's just too much hatred between us."

"We could avoid each other…" Lettuce began.

But Ichigo said, "I'm back at the café again. They need me. The aliens were defeated again, but they might be back, and you will need me."

"Then I could leave the cafe," Lettuce said. "We go to different schools. If I leave the café, we never have to see each other again."

But the girl shook her red-maned head. "They'll need you, too, if the aliens come back." She turned and faced the green-haired girl and stared into the eyes behind the big round glasses. "We're bound together in this. We can't escape each other. And sooner or later, we'll fight."

"If we do," Lettuce responded, "I won't transform. Just a fist fight."

"And if I transform?" Ichigo asked.

Lettuce shook her head. "I won't transform. So there won't be any killing, or anything close. Just some hair-pulling, maybe."

Ichigo nodded and turned away again, once again staring away into the south as the evening sky turned red. "Then at least there's some hope…" she muttered; but her voice trailed off, and she said no more.

Lettuce also resumed staring into the distance. Yes, at least there was some hope. Ichigo was so sure that she and Masaya would break up again, and then… and then, could she touch him without guilt, if some other person or reason had broken them up? Lettuce didn't know; but at least, there was hope.

* * *

In the space ship, heading back to Lovatron, the green-haired alien lay upon his bed. His race had many healing skills, and though he was still weak, he was quite healed from the injuries that that lying red-haired wench had given him. He would have her; he was sure of that. He could never get her out of his mind; and besides, no girl had ever succeeded in saying no to him. He knew her weakness, now; he knew that he could get at her through her mother. The wench's mother had no magical power and would be easy for him to snatch. And then the little wench would have to yield to him. And once he had had her, he was sure, she would never look back. He smiled to himself, showing one of his fangs.

Her mother! For some reason, that human woman remained in his mind, too. She was old, an old hag, maybe 35 earth years old. But she had that glorious red hair, even redder than the Mew Mew's; and her body was slender, and more shapely than her daughter's. And she was soft, so soft when his arms had seized her. And the fragrance she wore lingered in his mind. Oh, he would have his way with the little wench; he was sure of that. But there was hope that he could do even better for himself. Why settle for the knock-off, he thought, when he could have the real thing?

He lay there, on his back on the bed, a wicked smile upon his face, and hope in his heart. There would be another time. Yes, there would!

**The End.**


End file.
